Duet of the Apocalypse
by CanisLupusHorribilis
Summary: Umbrella sends Ada Wong, the enigmatic and beautiful spy, to work alongside Wesker in S.T.A.R.S. because of a lack of trust in Wesker. The plan seems easy enough. But what happens when you add an innocent cop into the mix? AU set before Resident Evil 1
1. Raccoon City Police Department

Duet of the Apocalypse

Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil or any of its characters, though I wish I did.

A/N: Basically this story is set before Resident Evil 1 and goes on from there. It's completely AU. Leon joins the RPD before the S.T.A.R.S. are sent into the forest to deal with the cannibal murders and…well…yeah other stuff happens. Rated T for violence and language. Pairings…will become obvious as the story goes.

The Raccoon City police station was one of the more glorious stations she'd seen in her lifetime. The tiles were shined until they looked glossed, the statues were kept prim and proper, and everything was literally squeaky clean. Throughout the two weeks she'd spent there, she'd never once seen a scratch or dust or anything. It was rather annoying. It wasn't like the station was a hospital. No, it was an art museum turned police station.

Standing with her right hip pressed against the railing of the second floor near the emergency ladder, Ada Wong could really suck up the glory and the over exaggerated beauty of the station. Down on the first floor she could see the statue of the goddess with her pitcher, always tipped over as if water had once flowed from it. It was surrounded by what seemed to be a water fountain that was long emptied of its waters. Many had asked why the water hadn't been kept running. Nobody had answered.

Directly below her was the reception area. Rita, a young blonde with a soft southern drawl, was operating the computer. Her fingers danced over the keys and ordered the computer to do something for her. She was probably checking to see if the jail cells were empty. The April-May transition was Raccoon City's most busy criminal time of the year for some unknown reason.

The sound of dress shoes smacking against linoleum grabbed Rita's attention. The young woman lifted her head and, although it was hard to tell from the second story, smiled at the person approaching. Ada gazed curiously down at the person she was looking at, her eyes half-lidded like she was tired and wanted to get some sleep. She gazed down at the newcomer through her thick, ebony eyelashes. Marvin Branagh. A dark skinned officer who was well known and loved by the majority of the police in the station, and even the S.T.A.R.S. themselves, Marvin looked oddly nervous. He never looked nervous, not even when he was staring down the chief himself.

The two officers exchanged some words quickly but when Rita shook her head, her short hair barely moving at all, Marvin groaned and started pacing. His right hand lifted to scratch at his head while he wiped the palm of his left against his pant leg. His nerves were obviously frayed. He was obviously nervous. About what? There hadn't been any big crime in the city. The S.T.A.R.S. weren't even in yet. Irons wasn't doing one of his weekly 'inspections' of everybody.

Ada suddenly stood up straight and her hands slid down her pant legs to smooth out the wrinkles there. The black cloth was rough against her skin, not exactly something she liked to wear but her new 'job' made her do such. The uniform was constricting but she had no say in that matter. The Kevlar vest made her chest incredibly uncomfortable. The boots squeaked on the station's tiles when she walked because they were brand new. Everything about her S.T.A.R.S. uniform was annoying. Then again, everything about S.T.A.R.S. was annoying.

She had no freedoms any longer thanks to her employers. She couldn't take a single step anywhere without having somebody stare at her. The male cops practically drooled when they saw her. The male S.T.A.R.S. tried to get on her good side. Irons watched her like a hawk. And Wesker… He was the worst of them all. And she knew why. She was invading his territory. It came back down to the simplest of instincts for all beings. Protect your territory. And she'd stepped in and was taking over.

"It wasn't my choice," she growled softly, looking down at the goddess statue. No, it wasn't her choice. It was Umbrella's. Spencer's. Somebody else's. They didn't trust Wesker. At all. The man who'd been working for them for some time now was not liked and not trusted. She didn't really understand why they didn't like him or trust him. From what she knew of the man, he didn't make himself out to be untrustworthy. Well, you had to get past his rather dark attitude to see the okay side of him.

But for some reason Umbrella in general didn't trust him. They didn't really trust Birkin, the underground scientist, either. And yet they trusted her. Of all people, they trusted Ada Wong, spy extraordinaire. When they'd come to her with the proposal of sending her to Raccoon City to keep an eye on Wesker, and they told her that she was one of the few trustworthy people left, she'd had to fight off the biggest urge to laugh. She was not a person anybody wanted to trust. She was the least connected of all Umbrella's employees. If the company went under, she would be perfectly fine. She actually wanted them to go under. Jon had shown her plenty of the experiments…

Involuntarily, a shudder coursed through her body as images of those _things _came to mind. They sickened her. They were abominations against mankind and everybody within it. She'd seen the side effects of those who were bitten by the experiments and knew that, if for some reason it happened to her, she'd blow her brains out before the side effects could occur. And the experiments gave her a bad feeling, a sense of foreboding that had always doomed things before.

A loud bang tore her attention away from her thoughts. Down below Irons was storming past the goddess statue and up the small ramp that led to the reception area. His face, pudgy and misshaped, was red with rage and God knew what else. His fists were balled so tightly at his sides that she could see the knuckles were white. His mustache, a brown thing that stretched across his upper lip like a skinny rodent, twitched with anger.

"Where are they Branagh?" he boomed, his voice carrying quite easily through the empty front hall. Ada cringed at his overly loud voice and considered going back to the S.T.A.R.S room. This wasn't going to be pretty. "They were supposed to be here by now."

"I told you the academy doesn't let out until nine, Chief," Marvin replied with a much gentler voice. Ada liked Marvin. He was a good cop and a calm man. And he was one of the few who could face Chief Brian Irons and keep a calm face. She'd never seen his face curl up with rage and she'd never heard him raise his voice in anger. Now, parties were different. She'd heard him cheering a new rookie along with others, his voice carrying above the crowd's. But that was different.

"It's nine-thirty, Branagh," Irons hissed, his voice snobby and dark. Ada, like always, had to fight off the biggest urge to through something at him. Irons was the epitome of annoying. A chubby man who stood little over five-and-a-half feet tall, he tried to make himself seem scary to keep his officers in control. His brown hair and brown mustache and brown clothes all helped the portrayal of an annoying little man with too much power and no taste in dressing.

The front doors suddenly opened and two officers, Fred and Ted she recognized, trotted in. Trailing behind them were three others clad in civilian style clothes, two men and a woman. They looked young, maybe in their early twenties, and their eyes soaked in the glory of the Raccoon City Police Department. Ada smiled, her crimson colored lips curving upwards slightly at the corners. Rookies.

"Hey look, we got them," Fred called to Marvin, motioning to the trio. Immediately, Irons stormed over to them, standing about a foot away from them so quickly that his weight seemed impossible. The woman took a slight step back and Ada shook her head. Not a good sign. One didn't want to show fear in front of the chief. He was worse than a dog. The second he caught a whiff of fear, he made one's life a living hell. Just for fun.

"Why were you three so late?" Irons asked, his voice oddly low. Ada recognized it as his 'I'm going to make you cry' voice. It didn't really make anybody cry. But it was the voice he used before he was going to start yelling. And boy did Irons love to yell. He loved to hear himself speak really.

The far right rookie was a dark haired young man with a green fleece jacket on and he opened his mouth to speak when the rookie in the dead center, the tallest of them, stepped forward. Ada let her eyes trail over him, soaking in his appearance like his own eyes had soaked up the station. Tall, blond, blue-eyed, and wearing an expression of fearlessness. He was obviously the leader of these three. And he was pretty cute. He had boyish looks almost and his shoulders were broad. He was wearing a black leather jacket that hid the majority of his torso's features but he was wearing blue jeans and black boots. Obviously the leader.

"It wasn't really our fault, actually," he said, his voice a surprisingly low tone for how young he looked. "Not only was traffic pretty damned hectic but the academy wouldn't let us out until we proved we could pass their tests one last time." He stood, nearly towering over Irons, and had a steady look on his face even though it was obvious he was lying. His pale blue eyes were obviously holding Irons' without hesitation, something that Irons didn't like. The chief yanked his gaze away and looked at the other two. The woman, her hair a pale blonde pulled back in a ponytail, and the man stepped slightly behind the 'leader.' They were hiding. Smart rookies.

"Tests, huh?" Irons asked, looking back up at the blond. He took a step forward and, out of instinct, the blond stepped back. Nobody wanted to be that close to Irons. Ada had had such misfortune and had gotten a lungful of rotten smelling breath in return. She shuddered slightly at the memory. "And if I called, would they confirm such?"

To her amazement, and humor, the 'leader' shrugged. From where she stood, she couldn't see Irons' face but Ada sure as hell saw his ears reddening. Marvin coughed lightly, his sign of trying to hold back a laugh, and the two cops who'd escorted the trio in snorted in laughter. The rookie, however, kept a straight face until Irons spun around and stormed over to Marvin. Then, the dark haired man slapped him on the back and he grinned. The girl was silently laughing, her face buried in her hands, and Ada herself wanted to laugh. Anybody who stood up to Irons had her respect.

"Train them Branagh. And keep that on in check," Irons snarled, shoving a finger in the rookie's direction. He gave the chief a perplexed 'I'm innocent' look and Ada thought about how cute he was. No doubt he had girls clinging all over him wherever he went. "I want a report on their progress by the end of the week." He turned back to the rookies and walked over to them. Instantly, all humor was wiped off their faces. Even the leader seemed a little more uncomfortable. "Mind you, if any of you prove to be a…weak link, shall we say, I'll kick you to the curb so fast you'll never see it coming."

The leader seemed to bit his tongue and curbed a response to the statement. Irons gave him one last glare before storming off. As soon as he was gone, the two rookies clapped their 'leader' on the back and gave him a couple soft words of praise. And Ada couldn't help herself. She clapped suddenly, the noise startlingly loud and immediately everybody looked up. Ted and Fred gazed upon her with lust, Marvin with respect, and Rita with dislike. But the rookies stared at her with curious looks. The 'leader' gave her a shocked look, the dark haired one a disbelieving look, and the woman a smile.

"Bravo," she called, her sultry voice making the men in the room straighten up slightly. "Anybody who stands up to Irons deserves applause." He grinned at her, showing off white teeth, and she returned the smile. Immediately, the rest of the people in the front hall burst into applause for the young man.

As his attention was grabbed by his friends, Ada deemed it time to return to the S.T.A.R.S. room. She dreaded doing such. She'd stood in the front hall for so long to avoid going into the S.T.A.R.S. room, like she had every morning for the past two weeks. Irons was bad. Wesker was worse.

---

"And finally, here's your desk Leon," Marvin said as he guided the trio to their desks. Elza sat on the far end, near Marvin's office. Ark sat dead center. And Leon sat closest to the door. He guessed that was to make a quick escape or something. Or they just didn't have any desks.

Leon started to head to his desk when he noticed Marvin was watching him. He stopped and stood up a little straighter, his hair falling into his eyes. "Is something wrong?" he asked, grabbing the attention of his friends. Elza and Ark looked over in worry and seemed to let out a sigh of relief when Marvin shook his head.

"No… No… Nothing's wrong. Well, Leon I want you to come with me real quick. We need to talk," Marvin said. Leon followed the older officer to his office, walking past the worried again Elza. He grinned at his friends, a smile that betrayed his nerves. He entered the office after Marvin and stood still, waiting. Marvin motioned for him to close the door and he followed the order. The blinds were shut, the door was closed, this wasn't good. "Leon… What you did out there…"

"I know I should've shown him more respect but we're not even technically working here and…" He trailed off as Marvin held up a hand. Leon saw the exhaustion in the older man's eyes and felt ashamed. He really hadn't meant to upset Irons. He'd done it on instinct. He'd had to protect his friends. "I'm sorry, sir."

"No Leon, don't be. I just… Look, you have to watch your ass here. He wasn't joking when he said that shit about kicking you to the curb. He's done it before, to cops much older and much more experienced than you. He's physically dragged people out of this place. I just don't want to see it happen to you. You've got the best stats I've ever seen. There's a chance you could outshoot the S.T.A.R.S. marksman. And I really don't want to see you kicked out because of your smart mouth," Marvin said, sitting on the corner of his desk. Leon nodded his head in understanding. Shame was building up again but when Marvin next spoke, his tone was much happier. "Be proud though. You got a compliment from the Ice Queen herself."

"Yeah, who was that?" Leon asked. Whoever she was, she was beautiful. Her hair, raven black, had been cut short, ending above her shoulders. She'd had green eyes and Asian features. And she'd been dressed in a coal black S.T.A.R.S. uniform. He guessed it was pretty ironic that a S.T.A.R.S. officer would applaud him, after he'd declined the offer from their captain.

"That was Ada Wong, new officer of the S.T.A.R.S. She's basically Albert Wesker's co-captain, which more than likely makes him uncomfortable. We call her the Ice Queen because it's rare to see her show emotions other than anger," Marvin said, a smile on his face. "But she's a good person. I respect her and I like to think she respects me. She's better than Wesker in that area."

"Why wasn't she with Wesker, if she's his co-captain?" Leon asked. "This early in the morning, I'd think S.T.A.R.S. would be preparing for the day ahead. But she had to have been standing there for a while, at least. I mean…long enough to see me stand up to the chief at least."

"…Her and Wesker aren't exactly what I'd call friends. In fact, I'd say they absolutely can't stand each other. Their styles are too different I guess. And I think Wesker doesn't respect her because…well…he did technically make S.T.A.R.S. And her suddenly stepping up and taking over his job… It would kinda be like you becoming co-chief of police," Marvin explained.

"How did she become co-captain if he founded them?" Leon asked. He knew that Wesker had founded S.T.A.R.S. But he also knew that the 'super company' Umbrella Inc. had paid for the creation of S.T.A.R.S. Leon doubted Irons would've allowed the group of SWAT-like police otherwise. No doubt the man was territorial like nobody's business.

"God knows, Leon. Well, you better get back out there. I'm going to get some paperwork done. You guys start tomorrow, seven sharp," Marvin said, motioning for the door. Leon grinned and offered the older officer a mock salute, which Marvin returned, and exited the office. As soon as the door opened, Ark and Elza walked up to him.

"No," he said before Ark could even ask. The younger man glared at his blond friend and Leon just smirked. "We start tomorrow morning." Elza grinned and started back towards her desk. "Seven sharp, he said. So, _Ark_, don't sleep in, huh?" Ark shot him a dirty look.

"Hey asshole, I wouldn't have slept in if you hadn't gotten us all drunk as a celebration," Ark snapped. Elza laughed from her desk and Leon shrugged in response. He and Ark Thompson were much like brothers. They hated and yet loved each other at the same time. They'd spent all of their years in the academy together and Elza Walker had joined them in their final year. After that, they'd been inseparable. They'd even managed to land a job in Raccoon City together.

"I say we celebrate tonight too," Elza said. "We finally did it guys. We're finally cops. And Leon already has an enemy and a best friend." He glanced at her in confusion. "Well, you made an enemy out of Irons and a friend out of that S.T.A.R.S. girl. Who was she?"

"Marvin said her name is Ada Wong," he replied. For some reason, saying her name felt…right in a way. "He said she's co-captain of the S.T.A.R.S." Both Ark and Elza gave him a confused look and he just shrugged. "So, about this party tonight. Are we inviting anybody?"

"Might as well invite Jane and Emily and Marcus," Elza said. Leon frowned bitterly, the happiness of the situation suddenly falling away. Jane, his girlfriend since high school, was rather distant from him these days. The night before at their celebratory party had been the first time he'd spent more than five minutes with her. And even then she'd gone to cling on Ark after about six minutes. She was the reason he'd gone out and bought alcohol.

Leon started for his desk, glad that his friends were too busy chatting about their new job to notice his suddenly darkened mood. And his thoughts turned back to Ada Wong. He didn't even know her and yet already he liked her more than he did Jane. At least Ada clapped for him when he did something.

The young cop plopped down onto his chair and leaned back in it. His friends noticed that he'd left and started over to him. Ark stopped and grabbed three paper cups from the water jug near Marvin's office and filled them with water. When he'd done such, he gave one to Elza and one to Leon and kept one for himself. Then, he lifted the cup and said, "A toast. To us. For finally doing something with our shitty lives."

Leon lifted his cup up, tapping it to Ark's and Elza's before drinking the water down in one gulp. And silently, he added, 'To the rest of our lives as officers of the law in Raccoon City.'


	2. Special Tactics and Rescue Service

Duet of the Apocalypse

A/N: I realized as I was writing this chapter that pairings are going to be confusing so I'll just give a quick explanation. The Raccoon Police Department doesn't have that many women. Therefore, when Ada joined, the men were immediately engrossed with her. She's pretty, smart, and is older than Rebecca. So, although many males have, how should I say it…attraction to her, they don't _love _her. Only three males in this story will actually have anything close to love for her. (Yes, three.) She'll only truly love one back, 'like' one, and not really care for the third.

"You're late."

Ada rolled her eyes bitterly. She hadn't even been halfway through the door when his icy voice had met her ears. He sat at his desk, head lowered and sunglasses in place like always, and didn't look up when he spoke to her. It was his way of showing her that he held no respect for her, just like she held no respect for him.

"Technically, I'm not," she stated indifferently, stepping into the room. The door swung shut behind her, snapping into place with a light click. She glanced over the room, her eyes cautiously searching for any changes since the day before, a habit that she had developed through her life as a spy.

The room wasn't anything spectacular. Other than the messy desks that represented the attitudes of the people that sat there, the computers that Brad Vickers worked with, and the gun locker to the right of the door nothing was in the room. The only difference she could catch onto was the fact that once again Wesker had piled stacks of paper on his desk, most if not all of them blank, and they were all freshly printed sheets that were just waiting to be written on.

Wesker looked up from whatever he was doing, writing or something, and glared at her from behind his sunglasses. Not for the first time she wondered if he had some kind of eye disease that made him need to wear sunglasses at all times, even in the dead of night. She'd heard the other S.T.A.R.S. members snicker about the sunglasses behind his back, asking each other whether they thought he took them off during showers or other activities.

"Well, I'm not technically late since I've been in the RPD since five this morning," she coolly stated. It was a lie. Most of what she said to Wesker was a lie. Why tell the truth to a man she didn't like or trust? What fun was that? Where was the thrill of living in that? "Even you weren't here that early." Wesker's lips, which were generally held in a stiff and very straight line of disapproval, twitched downwards.

Before the captain of the Alpha team could speak, the door burst open behind them and Joseph Frost walked in. Huge stereo headphones dangled around his neck and he looked his part as the most optimistic of the Alpha team. He looked up, apparently catching on to the fact that he'd just stepped into a field of tension so thick it could've been cut with a butter knife. He offered his captain and co-captain a nervous smile and made his way to his desk. He sat down and lowered his head nervously. One of his hands reached up and tugged the headphones up and over his head, which was as always covered by a red bandana. Ada looked from Joseph to Wesker, whose glasses made it impossible to see which one of them he was staring at.

"Where are the others?" Wesker finally asked, moving his head enough that both Ada and Joseph could tell who he was looking at. Ada noticed that Joseph straightened up a bit when he was spoken to, as if he wasn't afraid of Wesker but of her. Any other time and place, she would've laughed. But now she simply kept her lips clamped together and glared at the picture behind Wesker's desk. It was of all the S.T.A.R.S. except for the new rookie 18 year old Rebecca Chambers and Ada herself.

"I don't know sir. Barry's daughter is sick so he might be coming in a bit late," Joseph said. His voice was steady and didn't sound like the voice of the joker that Joseph truly was. Not only was he one of the main people who teased Barry Burton for his age but he'd also started Brad's nickname of Chickenheart Vickers. He constantly asked Jill out on dates and frequently teased his once fellow Bravo team members about his promotion to Alpha team. Sometimes he was annoying.

"Polly or Moira?" Wesker asked, almost as if he was actually _concerned _about Barry's daughter. Then again, Ada knew Wesker was rather fond of Barry. She was too. Barry was a gun nut that challenged her when it came to knowledge about the weapons. He could rattle off enough facts to make her gape in shock.

But he was smart too. Before S.T.A.R.S. he'd been SWAT and then Airforce. The man had good background. And she knew it helped that he didn't stare at her chest when he spoke to her like most of the men did.

"I don't know. Polly probably. You know how kids these days are, always getting sick from school," Joseph said. And there it was, the joker stepping back up. Ada was beginning to wonder what would happen if she tore her eyes from the faces of the S.T.A.R.S. members and looked back at Frost. How would he react? Would he stumble over his words and cower down again?

Wesker made an unintelligible noise before Ada decided that life in the room was just getting too boring for her tastes. So, she straightened up and said, "I'm going downstairs for a while. I need something to do. Call if you need something." Wesker's head jerked towards her direction and she stared at where his eyes would be. "Is that a problem, Wesker?"

"Of course it's not," Wesker replied emotionlessly. "It doesn't seem like today will be a very busy day anyway. Why not go torture the new RPD rookies, Ada? I know how you love to make people uncomfortable." That was uncalled for. Her eyes narrowed and she felt an old longing to tear a gun from its holster and plant a bullet between his eyes. He was good. She was better.

But then a face appeared in her mind. Boyish, blond, blue eyed, attractive. The rookie who'd stood up to Irons. She wondered why she even cared about the cop. He was just another stupid street cop who decided to make his life hell by infuriating his chief of police. He wasn't anything important, especially not to somebody like her.

"That's your job, Wesker," she replied icily, staring at him still. If the captain knew better, he'd lower his head and wouldn't try to speak to her. Wesker knew how good at fighting, at _killing_, she was. He knew that she could kill him and then kill Joseph and get away with it. And apparently Wesker decided to be smart because he lowered his head and returned to doing whatever he'd been doing when she'd first entered the room.

Without a look towards the silent, nervous Joseph, Ada left the room. As soon as the door clicked close, she sighed heavily and started down the hall that led to the library. Maybe she would find something to do in there. Or maybe she would just stand on the balcony again and stare down at the cops as they made their way about the station.

---

"And this is Tony, with his K-9 unit," Marvin said, guiding the trio of rookies over to Tony. The slightly overweight man cast them warm enough smiles and returned to speaking to the receptionist behind the counter he was standing at. Leon noticed that Ark leaned tiredly up against the statue in the room, his eyes staring blankly at the door.

"Our K-9 unit is made of Dobermans because we couldn't afford buying German shepherds when the building was first turned into a police station. Tony here is one of the longest lasting officer," Marvin continued. Leon found it slightly humorous that they couldn't afford to buy a bunch of dogs but they could afford to keep the station running with priceless statues everywhere.

"I'd love to see them sometime," Elza said. Tony looked at her, his eyes almost excited. "Leon and I were both thinking about going into the K-9 unit but Ark there convinced us otherwise," she continued, motioning towards the dark haired man. "But I love dogs."

"I'll take you down to see them sometime. I'm certain the girls will love to see another female in the station," Tony stated, beaming at the young woman. Then he again turned to speak to the receptionist. Leon wondered what he meant about that. Were there no female officers? He'd seen the blonde operating the computers, who Marvin had said was Rita, and then there was the S.T.A.R.S. woman from earlier.

"About that… Other than you Elza, there are only a couple other female officers so don't be surprised at the jokes or…you know," Marvin said, looking down at the young woman. Elza grinned and shrugged at his statement, as if she didn't care about any comments thrown her way. And she probably didn't. "Well, shall we continue our tour?"

They left the room and entered the front hall. Leon was again taken aback by the over all beauty of the station. It was a grand building that just reeked of money, which really asserted the fact that the whole 'no money for German shepherds' thing was rather humorous. But if Irons only spent his money on trying to keep the building in working condition, Leon guessed he understood why the police station had no money. And why Umbrella was helping them out with a couple donations every now and then.

"Hey Rita, anything?" Marvin called, stopping before the statue. Elza stared at it but moved no closer to it, as if she was afraid of getting closer to it. When the blonde woman up in the reception area shook her head, Marvin cocked his head. "That's weird… This is always the time of the year when the crooks come out to play."

"Really?" Ark asked. "So we joined at a terrible time then?" Marvin looked at him and Ark offered the older man a nervous smile. "I'm just saying… I don't exactly want to join the force when they're out hunting after crooks with machine guns while I'm stuck with a pistol."

"Machine guns are S.T.A.R.S. jurisdiction," Marvin said with a shake of his head. "None of the typical cops have to deal with them. Trust me, it's caused some problems before." Leon knew of the long lasting hatred between the average officer of the station and the S.T.A.R.S. It was much like, he supposed, being useless really. S.T.A.R.S. got all the attention. RPD members just got slight nods by the average civilian, if that.

Thinking of S.T.A.R.S. made him think of Ada. For the last hour or so since Marvin had started the stupid tour he'd secretly hoped to see her again. He knew he was being stupid. He didn't even know her. And he doubted she even cared about him or his friends. But something about her…impressed him. There was just something about her. She was like that cookie in the jar your mother told you not to take. You had to take it, you just had to, even though you knew you'd get in trouble.

And she had applauded him. Instead of scolding him or waving a finger in disdain at him, she'd smiled and clapped. That was a good sign. She obviously wasn't as cold hearted as Marvin and the other cops seemed to think. Or, at least, Leon didn't see it that way. Then again, maybe she'd just been in a good mood earlier. Or she just didn't like Irons. He doubted anybody did.

Of course, he knew his hopes to see her again were very foolish. Not only was there the chance that she didn't even want to talk to him again but it was a big station. His desk was positioned almost directly underneath the S.T.A.R.S. office and he would more than likely never have a reason to even go up to the S.T.A.R.S. and talk to them. He wouldn't be seeing her again unless he went out of his way to see her. Which was sad, really.

"Hey Marvin!" somebody suddenly called, breaking Leon out of his thoughts about the S.T.A.R.S. woman. A door shut, the slamming noise echoing throughout the vast space of the front hall, and footsteps started towards them. The three rookies turned to face the newcomer and Marvin walked forward to greet him. The man was dark haired and brown eyed. He was wearing the pale blue uniform of a patrol officer, with the black tie and black dress shoes to go with it.

"Elliot, how's it going?" Marvin asked, smiling at the other man. Elliot, however, didn't look at all happy. If anything, he looked worried and had a dead serious look on his face. "Not good I see," Marvin stated stiffly. "Alright, Elliot, what's going on? Oh, wait, don't tell me. Gang activity at the school? Terrorists in Town Hall? Sharks loose near the university?" Leon, Ark, and Elza all looked at him in confusion at the last thing. Leon didn't even think Raccoon City had sharks in its zoo, let alone in the water nearby. Especially since it wasn't salt water near the university.

"No, none of those. Not even close. Lambert was called out last night with Scott to check out a missing person. The person had been missing for a couple days and their family was getting worried so Scott went to check it out. About an hour later he called Lambert out, you know, our photographer? Before he leaves, I guess he asked Scott where he was and Scott said the woods." Marvin's eyes widened in confusion and Elliot shook his head. "That's not even the weirdest part. Okay, so Lambert gets out there and has to hunt for Scott, who's pretty deep within the woods. He comes back to the station, shaking and saying he wants a raise and Scott's doing the same, so Aaron takes it upon himself to develop the pictures. Here."

He handed Marvin a manila folder none of the rookies had noticed. Marvin easily opened it and started to flick through the papers. Then, his fingers touched a photo and he pulled it out. Elza gasped and stepped back from the group. Ark stared, wide eyed, at the picture. And Leon himself felt a slight unease come from it.

It was what might've once been a woman but huge chunks of flesh were missing, white bone glistening out from beneath torn red tissue. Her face was also missing large sections of flesh and two white orbs that were probably her eyes stood out like shining diamonds on a red floor.

"Holy shit," was all Marvin could say. He stared at the picture like it was cursed or something and Leon found he couldn't take his eyes away from it either. Ark had, however, and was trying to comfort a very disgusted looking Elza. Being a street cop was one thing. Dealing with dismembered people was another.

"It… It looks like an animal attack," Leon suddenly said, realizing what was so odd about the picture. Strips of flesh had been torn from her body, the way a dog would tear off hunks of flesh from the person's body. But dogs didn't usually make this much damage unless there was a large pack. "Dogs maybe."

Marvin gave him a shocked look before turning back to the picture. "You're right. It does. Elliot, give this to Tony. Have him confirm it was a dog attack. And you said this happen in the woods? As in the woods attached to Raccoon?" Elliot nodded as he took the folder from Marvin. "Leon, Ark, Elza… I need to go talk to the chief. Why don't you guys just head on back to your desks, get a feel for working in there. I'll try to resume the tour later."

The two older officers walked away, leaving the three rookies to stand in the center of the front hall awkwardly. Leon couldn't pull his thoughts from the picture he'd seen. Elza had said that if anything big happened on their first couple days, they were doomed and had stepped into a life full of danger and chaos. Leon frowned deeply before noticing the way Elza and Ark were huddled. He recognized it as their way of comforting each other. He hoped it was working for them.

---

"She's so freakin' hot though," Forest mumbled as he and Chris started for the shooting range. The two men were tired of sitting around the building all day, especially since Forest was trying to get some overtime in by working with the Alpha team even though he was part of Bravo. "I mean… Jill's just no comparison. Rebecca's too young. But damn… Maybe it's her hair or something but…"

"Okay, Forest, I get it. You think that Wesker's 'co-captain' is hot. Now can we get back to shooting?" Chris asked bitterly. He shot the other man, one of his closest friends in S.T.A.R.S. a dirty look and Forest grinned at him in response. "It's not like you'd have a chance with her." Chris didn't secretly add that he wished he could have a chance with her. "Besides… She's probably sleeping with Wesker." He regretted saying that immediately. He knew that neither S.T.A.R.S. officer had anything but contempt for each other.

"Really? When was this?" a sultry voice questioned from behind them. Chris froze, every muscle in his body tensing in horror as the sound of boots tapping against the floor as somebody walked reached his ears. Forest's face had drained of all color, making his brown mullet stand out horribly on his head. Both men stood as still as possible but when she stopped walking, Chris could almost sense the hatred radiating from her. "Ever say that again, _Redfield_, and there might be another rumor running around the building about you and Forest here."

Chris jerked his head in a nod and mumbled, "Okay, I understand. I won't say anything. I swear." He knew he would too. But not because of the threat of a rumor being spread around about him and Forest. Jill had already done that a couple years back so Forest had made out with one of the female officers to shut everybody up. No, it was because he held a little more respect for this 'co-captain.' And Forest was right. She was hot. And intelligent. And a good shot. And…

"Wesker wants you in the office, Redfield. He's talking with Irons and Marvin about something but he wants you up there, waiting, when he gets back. Got that?" she asked. Even angry or strict, she sounded amazingly beautiful. She had a way of making simple words sound tantalizing. "I asked if you've got that, Redfield."

"Yes sir, I do," he replied quickly. Forest was slowly regaining some of his color as if he was glad it wasn't him getting snapped at. "And…I uh…um…apologize for saying that about you and Captain Wesker. I didn't mean it… I mean… Us males… We say things we don't mean all the time, you know?"

"No, actually, I don't Redfield," she replied darkly before he heard her turn and leave. Both men exhaled sharply, glad that she was gone. Although she was an amazing woman, she was slightly frightening too. Joseph, although he agreed with Forest on her attractiveness, was too afraid of her to speak to her. Barry was the only one besides Jill who could look her in the face. But nobody could look her in the eyes.

Brad practically curled up onto a little ball whenever she got close to him, which she only did if she needed something for him, and the majority of the Bravo team avoided coming into contact with her. Chris was beginning to wonder who was more feared: Ada Wong, the new 'co-captain' of the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team, or Albert Wesker, the king of assholes. He was still leaning towards Wesker. Ada's beauty made males lean towards her, even if they feared her.

"That was intense man," Forest mumbled. Chris nodded. "You think she's going to tell Wesker? I mean…he'd probably give us truck cleaning duty for a year. You know how he is." Chris shook his head. "You don't think she'll tell him? Maybe you weren't that far off?"

Chris shot Forest a dirty look and said, "No, it's because she's not like that. Say what you want, call her an Ice Queen and all that, but she's not evil. Look how she treats Brad. The guy's hated by most of us and yet she still treats him with some respect. Though I do see the dislike in her eyes. I don't blame her for disliking him." Then Chris thought about all the time he'd seen her speak to Wesker. She disliked Brad. But something else was in her eyes when she spoke to Wesker. "And I definitely understand why she hates Wesker."


	3. Select Police Force

Duet of the Apocalypse

A/N: Remember that this is AU so things will be happening at different times than they really did.

Ada reached out and brushed her hand over the stiff coat of the dead tiger, her pale eyes locked onto the amber eyes of the great cat. She hated visiting Irons' office for this reason alone. The magnificent cat, along with all of his other 'trophies,' made her sick to her stomach. She hated seeing people show off these creatures that they killed with a gun. There was no honor in killing with a gun. Even she thought that and her entire life revolved around guns. And killing with them.

"So, I've decided to create a new branch of the Raccoon Police," Irons suddenly stated, grabbing her attention. He was in the room behind her, where his taxidermies sat on the walls, speaking to Wesker. She'd excused herself to stand in the hallway with the great cat to avoid the stale stench of animal musk and human sweat, two scents that really didn't go together. "And I've already got two men chosen for it. Of course, there are others. But these particular two have…caught the eyes of even our…lovely employers."

"Oh?" Wesker asked, probably leaning back in his chair. Usually he sat straight backed and stiff, like a mannequin. But around Irons, even though they despised each other, he was a little more lax. Ada sighed and turned around. With steady steps, she entered Irons' office and left the great cat to its endless watch of the hallway. Sure enough, Wesker was leaning back in his chair slightly. He glanced back at her as she entered and she cast him a curious look. He shrugged. Irons hadn't told either of them about this new branch.

"Yes. I want to call it the S.P.F. Select Police Force. They'll be our SWAT," Irons finally explained. Ada frowned and wanted to ask a question but halted from doing such. Irons loved to hear himself talk. "See, S.T.A.R.S. is here to…how should I put this… Deal with terrorists or other things like that. But this new team would be more like SWAT. They'd deal with the more common problems and leave all the terrorism to you guys. How does that sound?"

"Sounds like S.T.A.R.S. would be out of work," Ada stated, speaking for the first time since Irons had called her and Wesker to his office. "Terrorists don't attack mountain cities like Raccoon. What would the point in that be? S.T.A.R.S. has always been left to deal with other problems, the problems that SWAT would handle. So, what's the point in creating another team that's just going to take all of the S.T.A.R.S. jobs?"

Irons looked her over, like he always did, and she was once again grateful for the concealing vest she was wearing. She typically was a little more relaxed in her clothing choice, taking the vest off and walking about in her black S.T.A.R.S. T-shirt, but Irons staring at her chest all day long had gotten to the point where she'd taken to wearing the vest 24/7.

"Well…. Because these two officers either won't or can't join the S.T.A.R.S. and I need their talents somewhere," Irons finally said. Ada wanted to laugh. He was simply making this new team for two men? Sure, he'd said he had two in mind but she'd guessed they'd just serve as the founders of the team, not as the reason the team was created. "Al, you've seen the stats of these two men. One always puts up a good fight against Redfield in the marksmanship tournament. The other could _beat_ him. Isn't that a good enough reason to place them into a team a little more designed for their talent? They belong in the military. Not the RPD. But nobody needs to know that. Besides, they'd look good on TV, serving our station."

"You've got to be kidding," Ada scoffed. Here was this man, who cared only for himself and his looks, who was trying to make his police station look better by putting good looking men on the frontlines? She remembered, not for the first time, why she'd always loathed Irons and why she'd always hoped he'd never make it into the race for mayor.

Wesker, however, was silent. He looked down at his hands before lifting his head and staring impassively at Irons. Those sunglasses of his again made it impossible to see his eyes. "Fine. Make the S.P.F. But put more than two men in it before you create it. People will…become a little suspicious of your motives if you only put two. And I'd say put Branagh in charge of their training. He's still one of the best in the station." Irons frowned, his forehead wrinkling a little bit, but he nodded.

"Who's going on the team and why am I being left out from their names?" Ada questioned suddenly, butting herself into the conversation. Wesker stood from his chair and motioned for her to take it. She scowled at him and he simply turned and exited the office. She still wasn't certain who she hated more; Albert Wesker or Brian Irons. She turned her attention to the chief and stared at him. The man started to wring his hands nervously under her glare.

"One is Kevin Ryman. You know, the one who carries the .45 against policy?" he asked. She nodded, picturing the dark haired man. Ryman was known for coming in second place each and every year against Chris in the marksmanship tournament. They had a friendly rivalry going on because of that. And from what she recalled, Ryman was a drinker. A good man, yes, but he liked his beer as much as he liked his job. "And the other is that dammed kid who-"

"Leon Kennedy?" she asked, shocked. It had been a week since the incident of the rookie officer pissing Irons off, a week since he'd joined the RPD, and already everybody either knew him or knew of him. He was, supposedly, a great officer and a great guy all round but she'd yet to truly speak to him. If she really let herself accept the truth, she might've admitted that she was trying to avoid him. Something about him…

"Yes, that one. Have you seen his stats? The kid's got a damn good aim. He's good with just about any weapon. He's one of the few officers around here who can actually sit down and talk with Marvin or Barry about guns nonstop without looking like an idiot." That last one was impressive. Nobody could out-gun talk Barry. But if somebody could actually talk to him about guns and not look stupid, then he deserved some praise.

"That's not a good enough reason to put him in the S.P.F. Ryman's got age and experience. So what, this _kid_ can talk with Barry about guns? That's nothing amazing. He needs to have more backing him than his stats or his ability to talk about guns," Ada barked. She wasn't quite certain why she was so against the idea of the man joining the S.P.F. And she also didn't know why she'd called him a kid. He wasn't younger than her. In fact, they were more than likely around the same age.

"Kid?" Irons asked, noticing that before anything else. She glared at him and he shrugged. "I have my reasons for wanting to add him into the S.P.F." And there it was. Ada knew the reason. He wanted the cop to fail. She could see it burning in those piggy little eyes of his. She frowned in disgust at him and shook her head. "What? Look, my reasons are mine and mine alone. Don't even think about going and telling people that you think you know my reasons."

She started for the doorway, snarling over her shoulder, "I wouldn't even think about it, Irons." She exited the room, slamming the door behind her in the common sign of rage, and started down the hall that led to the station. The other hallway, the one with the tiger, would've taken her to Irons' personal 'treasure room.' She'd been there once or twice, when she'd been looking for the missing Irons. The man had a tendency of vanishing from time to time, oddly enough. And even when she went into the treasure room, she couldn't find him the majority of the time.

The door suddenly clicked open behind her and she stopped walking, knowing that Irons was going to say something to again. And when he did speak, his voice was snide with a little laughter mixed into it. "Oh, and Ada dear… You'll be telling Kennedy and Ryman the good news." She felt her fists clench at her sides in fury and resisted the urge to turn around and tell Irons off. Instead she nodded sharply, a jerk of her head that sent her hair into her face, and started off down the hallway.

If it was the last thing she did on this mission, she'd make Irons cry like the little child he really was inside. And she didn't care how she did it, whether it was mental or physical. She would just do it.

---

During his past week in the RPD, Leon had learned many things. He'd learned that some people found it easy to escape the real world by training vicious attack dogs, which really just loved to cuddle. He'd also learned that most of the time, his job was spent sitting at his desk trying to keep himself and his friends busy enough to not die of boredom. And he'd also learned that there were actual classes among the cops, like in a high school drama on TV.

There were the 'cool' cops who deemed themselves above the rest. There were the 'geeky' cops that did all the computer work and nothing else. There were the 'jocks,' who were in reality S.T.A.R.S. whom, he'd learned, none of the average cops liked. There were, of course, the 'new kid' cops, including himself and his friends. And so on.

Sadly, he often got to see the cruelty of the 'cool' cops against the 'geeky' cops. He'd found himself growing more and more impatient with these actions, where the former would have the latter go through embarrassing stunts. Leon himself had been one of the so-called 'popular' kids in high school but he'd always had the tendency to stand up for the little person, the less popular students. He didn't want to do that in the RPD and make enemies out of officers like he had made enemies out of the jocks in school.

Unfortunately, luck was not on Leon's side all of the time. At the moment, he was walking down the hallway that led to the vending machines. They were the only vending machines in the entire building and he found himself having to actually walk across the front hall to get to the side that had the machines. He walked steadily down the hallway in his light blue shirt and dark blue pants, the colors of the average patrol cop, before he heard the whimpers.

His pale blue eyes narrowed and he noticed that Elran, a cowardly young man who worked in the Boys Crime Department, was slowly backing away from the machines. Standing near the machines were a large group of cops, all led by their number one asshole of the hour Kevin Ryman. Ten years older than Leon, Kevin was generally a nice guy but somebody had once said that he'd fallen into the temptation of popularity among his fellow police officers. That and he'd failed the S.T.A.R.S. selection twice, which gave him a nasty reputation in the RPD.

"Oh, come on Elran, you can't just do this for us, one last time?" Kevin asked. Leon cocked his head curiously, feeling like a dog that had just heard a confusing order from its owner. What were they trying to make the poor guy do? Elran, a man with a little baby fat on his face and midsection still and pasty skin that had apparently never seen the sun, was cowering before the older and bigger cop. What was going on? Better yet, did Leon want to know?

"N-no!" Elran stammered. "E-e-every t-t-t-" He was stuttering heavily and found himself unable to finish the sentence. One of the officers stalked forward, Meyer Leon recognized, and glared at Elran. The younger officer practically crumpled into himself and Leon found himself growing more and more uneasy. He wasn't about to watch them bully the poor guy into doing something.

"Can't t-t-t-talk, Elran?" Meyer snorted. The officers behind him started laughing, like that was the funniest thing in the world. Leon noticed Elran looked like he was about to cry. Finally, the rookie officer took it upon himself to be the one to interfere on their fun and games. He took a couple steady steps forward, walking into the large space that served as the rest room for the vending machines.

"Why don't you leave the poor guy alone?" he asked, his voice steadier than his heart. They were all bigger, older, more experienced officers than he was. If they wanted, they could gang up on him and he'd go down easier than a dying animal. But he wasn't going to let them see that. All they saw was a young cop standing before them with a look of anger in his eyes, but not on his face. Leon wasn't good at hiding emotions in his eyes but he could pull a damn good straight face off.

Elran gaped at the rookie but it was Kevin who actually did anything. He stepped closer to Leon, who stood s few inches shorter than the older man. "You really gonna stand up for him,_ rookie_?" The way the older man spit out the word rookie, Leon guessed he either didn't like rookies or he didn't like the idea of one helping the frightened Elran instead of picking on him.

"Yeah, since none of you are," Leon stated steadily, his fists balling at his side. He'd gotten into his fair share of fights in high school and college, and he knew a couple attacks from the academy that it was mandatory for officers to learn. "Then again, I'm not a coward like all of you. If I was going to pick on somebody, I'd pick on somebody…well, to use the cliché, my own size. Elran's, what, half the size you are?"

That did it. Ryman moved forward and grabbed Leon's shirt, before turning and slamming him into the vending machines. He cringed as his back struck the plastic quite painfully and he noticed that only the tips of his shoes were still on the ground. Ryman pulled his right hand free from gripping Leon's shirt, allowing the rookie to reach up and grab his remaining wrist. He didn't mind getting hit. Maybe it'd show them that not all of the 'new kids' were weak and pathetic.

Ryman was about to punch Leon when a voice, so steady and calm, barked, "That's _enough_ Ryman." Kevin released Leon's shirt and the rookie felt the ground return under the rest of his feet. Everybody became silent and turned to look at the new intruder. Even Elran looked. But Leon noticed something. Elran was the only one with a worried face anymore. So, curious, the rookie officer shoved past Ryman and got a pleasant surprise. It was his S.T.A.R.S. fan, as his friends were calling her. Ada Wong. "You alright, rookie?" she asked, walking towards him. She walked, he noticed, like a feline. All grace and beauty but with muscles ready to tense in seconds.

"Yeah," he said steadily, staring at her in slight confusion. He'd secretly been hoping to see her ever since she'd clapped for him that week ago but he'd known it was a fool's hope. He'd still kept his eyes open, hoping to see the black clad S.T.A.R.S. officer. He'd only ever seen the green clad medic and the red clad gun nut, Barry. "I'm fine. Thanks." Leon knew he sounded bewildered. He knew that he probably had a look of disbelief on his face. First she applauded him, now she was saving his ass from Ryman.

"Good," she said with a smile. "And you're welcome." Her eyes were soft as she looked at him but the second her eyes flickered over to Ryman, then to Elran, they turned to stone. She looked rather vicious, he noted. She was definitely not a woman he'd want to anger. "What exactly happened here, rookie?" she asked. He almost had the urge to say his name but for some reason he didn't mind her calling him that. It was almost like a pet name, which was ridiculous, not an insult.

"I saw them trying to make Elran do something and I stepped up to defend him," Leon said calmly. Short, sweet, to the point. He didn't feel like making up some elaborate lie to make it seem like he'd taken the first step towards violence to make himself look better. That would have bad repercussions, like him getting in trouble. Besides, she obviously didn't like the violence.

Inwardly, Leon shook his head. She was pretty, yes, beautiful really. But they didn't know each other. And he had a girlfriend, no matter how impassive towards him she was. Besides, he doubted a S.T.A.R.S. officer would want to stoop to such levels of affection with a street cop. No matter how good his stats were. No matter how many offers from S.T.A.R.S. he'd gotten.

She made a thoughtful noise before a sly smile flickered across her lips. "All of you but Ryman and the rookie, go." The gave her a curious look. "Did that seem like I was asking you to leave? No? Then go." At the vicious tone in her voice, which gave Leon the full view of why she got the name Ice Queen, the officers scampered off and left Ryman and Leon with her. The ones that walked past her gave her a wide berth, as if she was a viper ready to strike. Elran mumbled a thanks to Leon and left the hallway. "Ryman, I want you to go up to Irons' office and tell him that he needs to tell you your new fate. Because I'm not going to. Got that?" Ryman opened his mouth to question and she held up one finger, her eyes stone again, "Now."

He too scampered off, leaving Leon to fend for himself against the black clad woman. She sighed and shook her head, looking much weaker than she'd previously seemed and he felt himself relax slightly. He wasn't certain if he should but he did anyway and he simply watched her. What new fate was she talking about? Everybody knew that Ryman and his followers picked on Elran, so it wasn't punishment. What was going on?

"Leon, right?" she asked, looking at him. He nodded, almost shyly, at her. "Strong name. I like it. Come with me, Leon." He felt his face heating up slightly but walked after her as she walked down the hallway and started for the front hall. As they walked into the front hall, Leon trailing behind the S.T.A.R.S. officer like a loyal dog, he couldn't help but feel the stars of his fellow officers. Everybody stopped their activities to watch the officer and her follower.

"Back to work, all of you!" Marvin suddenly barked viciously, standing on the second floor balcony. Leon shot him a grateful look, which Marvin didn't return. He was looking at Ada curiously, but the woman didn't even look up. She just kept walking until she made it to the double doors that led outside. What had only been a ten second walk felt like an eternity for the worried officer.

The raven haired woman pushed through the double doors and led Leon outside. The doors swung shut behind the rookie, leaving him in the warm air of the outside world. Cars and people slowly passed the gates that led to the RPD, which were wide open to anybody who wanted to enter. To Leon's right was a large patch of grass where Tony brought his K-9 unit out everyday for their exercise.

"No doubt you're confused, and probably worried, about why I brought you out here," Ada suddenly said turning to face him. Her voice snapped him back from his memories of Tony's dogs to the woman before him. She stared at him curiously and he nodded to confirm her assumption. "Well… I'm going to be very blunt because I don't know why Irons chose me to tell you this. But he's creating a new unit within the RPD, called the S.P.F. This is where you ask what that is."

"Do I have to?" he asked. She gazed at him curiously and he just smiled. "It's so expected. Can't I just let you continue?" That got a smile out of her but she shook her head. "Damn. Okay, Officer, what's the S.P.F.? And what exactly does it have to do with me? And, for the hell of it, why did you send Kevin to the chief's office?" He was probably testing his luck with her. Asking so many questions was more than likely going to make her reprimand him. But instead she shrugged.

"I'll answer that last one first. I don't like Kevin. I don't want to tell him this good news because then he'll associate me with it. That's not good to me. So, I sent him to Irons so the fat man in charge-" Leon couldn't help but laugh at that. "-will tell him instead of me. And to answer the other two questions… The S.P.F. is the Select Police Force. Irons created it to serve as SWAT. And yes, before you ask, S.T.A.R.S. did originally handle all SWAT missions. He's making the S.P.F. because…well…he has his reasons." Leon didn't bother to ask what those reasons were. "And your role… Isn't it obvious? He wants you in the S.P.F. As one of the founding members."

Leon nearly stumbled away from her at that statement. "Me? Why me? There's plenty of other cops here. Hell, any of those cops that follow Kevin around like dogs are better than me." He knew that last statement wasn't true. His prideful side knew that he was among the best in the RPD. But his more down-to-Earth side was much more modest. That side didn't believe he was among the best of the best.

"Really now… If you're going to say good cops, don't use his followers. But, even if you don't want the job, Irons is putting you there." He sighed before shrugging. "Giving up that easily, Leon?" she asked, looking at him calmly. For some reason, as she said his name, he realized that he liked the way his name sounded as she said it. He shook away that thought, answering her question at the same time.

"No, I just don't see the point in fighting. At least life won't be so boring, right?" he asked. She nodded, another smile on her lips. "Does Irons want me to talk to him?" She shrugged and started to walk past him, coming close enough to him that he could smell a faint perfume emanating from her skin and clothes. He nearly stepped away and forced him to remember his girlfriend, no matter how cruel she was being.

"I'll go talk to him. I'll send for you if he wants you. Congratulations, rookie. And welcome to the elite of Raccoon City." As she entered the Raccoon City Police Department, Leon looked after her. Something about her was…right but wrong at the same time. Like she was hiding something under the S.T.A.R.S. uniform. But what? And, silently, Leon wondered if being in the elite of Raccoon City was such a good thing.


	4. Bet, Deal, Dare

Duet of the Apocalypse

A/N: I'm not certain if the passing of time in between the chapters and in the chapters themselves is confusing to you (my readers). If it is, tell me and I'll fix that up. Somehow. I'm not quite certain how but I'll find a way. Short, boring chapter today, I'm afraid.

"There's a Fourth of July dance?" Jill asked suddenly, making the other two S.T.A.R.S. officers look up. Her pale eyes met the eyes of her fellow officers before she motioned towards the bulletin board. They were at the vending machines in hope of getting something good before it ran out. "Look. 'Dance on the Fourth of July. Celebrate your patriotism as a police officer. Bring friends or family.' It's mandatory for us." Jill almost did a comical double take, a slight twitch of her head, as she said the last part.

"Great," Chris said sarcastically as he struggled to open the bag of chips Jill had bought him. The plastic wouldn't yield under his fingers and he was beginning to grind his teeth together, as if that would give him more strength. "Why do we have to go?" he growled, straining to open the bag. Jill stared at him as he struggled with the chips, almost like she was entranced.

"Give me those," Ada suddenly snapped, yanking the bag out of Chris' hands. She opened it easily, tearing the plastic apart without so much as a tiny bit of strain. Chris grinned at her sheepishly as she shoved it back into his hands. Then, the Eurasian woman turned her attention to the bulletin board. "Does it say all S.T.A.R.S. have to go?" she asked, praying that Jill had just read it wrong. She really didn't want to go to a dance. Dances bothered her. There were too many people in one place for her to feel comfortable.

"It says, 'All S.T.A.R.S. officers of Alpha and Bravo teams must go,'" Jill replied, placing her finger under the sentence. As Chris loudly chewed on a chip, Ada took a step forward to read the statement. Jill was right. It was mandatory for S.T.A.R.S. to go, even if they didn't want to. "It seems like Irons is trying to push his luck with Wesker again," Jill stated, looking at the other female officer.

"Why would he?" Chris asked. "Wesker gets all the funding from Umbrella. He's the one who gives it to the RPD. If Wesker gets pissed off, he pulls the funding from the RPD and no more cops for Raccoon City." Ada shot him a bitter look. She hoped it just looked like she was trying to defend the police officers of Raccoon City. Which was sort of true. But she also hated it that people, Chris and Jill in particular, noticed how close Umbrella was to Wesker and didn't notice how _close _the two actually were.

"Irons is gutsy?" Jill asked, her eyes still on the poster. She didn't seem any happier about the idea of going to a dance than Ada did. But she didn't have the reasons Ada did. "At least it's almost two months away. Besides, it finally gives me something to do other than pig out and watch fireworks on Independence Day," the brunette woman pointed out, glancing at her fellow officers. Ada shook her head silently but didn't bother to say anything. And Chris was too busy eating to say anything without spitting chips out.

"I'm glad you decided to share those with us," Ada stated, shooting Chris another bitter look. The dark haired man swallowed his mouthful before holding the bag out to her. The S.T.A.R.S. females both rolled their eyes. "So… Are you sure we have to go?" Ada asked, not really knowing why she was asking so many times. Something about spending time, and having a new life, within the RPD had started to actually affect her 'assassin/spy' persona, making her more like a civilian. It was rather odd. And annoying.

"Sorry Ada," Jill said, smiling sadly. She swatted at Chris angrily when he tried to stick the bag in her face. Their very sibling-like relationship tended to get annoying but Ada was just glad he was bothering Jill instead of her. He was becoming a little more relaxed around her, Ada, even though she was still pretty cold hearted to people. She was just relaxing a little bit around certain people. Around the S.T.A.R.S. And that rookie.

"Can you not dance or something?" Chris asked as he crumpled the now empty bag and tossing it into the garbage can. "Because, if not, I'll dance with you so everybody can make fun of me and not make fun of you." She stared at him silently, her pale eyes probably showing the confusion she felt. Chris Redfield and her dancing? No, that just would not do. Chris seemed to notice the look she was giving him and he shrugged. "Or not, you know. It was just a suggestion."

"A terrible suggestion," Jill snorted. The man shot her a dark look and Ada noticed that he did look actually upset, like he'd hoped she'd agree to him. She sighed and, not for the first time, cursed her looks. She knew that was what caught the eyes of most men, not her attitude. She was cold hearted and it was difficult to make her laugh or smile. Well, except for that rookie… Ada shook her head, erasing the thoughts of the blond haired rookie.

"So, did you guys hear about the murders?" Chris asked, successfully changing the subject. Ada looked over at him silently and he must've noticed such because he said, "Yeah, there's some murders going down in the Arklay Forest." She frowned, worry running through her. The murders were supposed to have been stopped already.

When the first murder had been reported, Wesker had immediately set out to contact Spencer. When that had been a failure, he'd contacted the mansion, Spencer's Mansion, and told them that something had escaped, an animal probably. They'd reported a missing MA-39 and claimed that it was the cause of the first murder. A Cerberus, she remembered. Or a zombie dog, as her contact had called them. The escaped animal was evidently caught and killed by mansion workers.

"Ada?" Jill asked. She looked over at the other woman. "Is something wrong?" How could she explain that the mansion in the middle of the forest was the cause of the murders that were going on without giving away Umbrella's secret? She didn't really mind giving away Umbrella's secret but it would condemn Wesker. And Wesker would condemn her. And she wasn't about to go down because she was tricking Wesker and Umbrella by making them think she worked with them.

With a shake of her head, mainly at the complexity of her mission, Ada replied, "No, nothing. I was just thinking about something. How many murders have happened?" Chris held up his hand with his index and middle fingers held up and the rest tucked against the palm of his hand. She considered her next question carefully. Wesker had spread the news of the murder throughout the S.T.A.R.S., or so he had said. If not, she was in danger of mentioning something that they didn't know about. "Is that including the first?"

He nodded his head and Ada internally breathed a sigh of relief. First of all, she hadn't mentioned something that they didn't know about. Second of all, there were only two murders. That was a good sign. Well, not really. But it was better than if five or six murders had happened.

The three of them fell into an uneasy silence before a look, cunning and thoughtful, appeared on Chris' face. He looked at his fellow S.T.A.R.S. and grinned. "Back to the dance. Why don't we make things interesting? Like…a dare, for lack of better words." Ada scowled, her brows furrowing unhappily at the idea of taking a dare. She knew what kinds of things could be born from taking foolish dares.

Before Ada could disagree, however, Jill asked, "What kind of dare, Redfield?" Ah, good old Jill. She couldn't pass up the idea of taking a dare, especially if it was from one of her fellow S.T.A.R.S. She was rather gutsy that way and Ada had heard less than pleasant rumors about the other woman because of this.

"For this stupid dance…I say we should see who can bring the least unlikely date. And whoever wins…gets the others' vacation time," Chris offered, beaming happily. He looked like a young child who'd recently discovered how to do something that made his parents happy. But Ada guessed it was because he expected to win, like he always won supposedly.

Chris offered his hand in the customary shake that would seal the deal between them. Of course, Jill instantly stuck out her hand and shook his hand, smirking triumphantly. Ada silently shook her head at the other woman's overconfidence in her abilities and didn't offer her hand. She wasn't that foolish. Her life had taught her how to be as careful as possible, to never consider caution overdone. Proceed with caution, she knew, was her motto.

"Rules, Redfield," she said steadily, her green eyes locked onto his deep blue ones. He grinned at her, showing off gleaming white teeth. Most women would swoon at that smile. Blood would rush to their brains, tripping hormones and pheromones. Most women would die just to have him smile at them. Ada Wong was not most women. She was rather different in that _she _was the one people swooned over, not the other way around.

"Go ahead, milady," he replied casually. She could see it though, in his eyes, that he knew he'd just been challenged. Not like with Jill, who wanted to make Chris look ridiculous or make him give her his vacation time. No, Ada had truly challenged him. And she'd completely ignored the smile that made most women collapse. That just wouldn't do for him. No, the masochistic side of him was probably bubbling with furry. Fun.

"You can't go with another man," she said to Chris and then to Jill, "and you can't go with another woman. Same with me. Unless you actually feel that way, and you can prove it, it's the typical straight couples. Okay?" They nodded calmly. "No Wesker or Irons, for us," she said to Jill again. The other woman nodded in agreement. "And no mayor's daughter, to you." Chris grinned at Ada as she said that. "And your date must be legal, in all ways."

"That's it?" Chris asked, looking elated. After Ada nodded calmly, he grinned widely and said, "I thought you were going to have much more than that. Okay, that's good. Everybody ready? We have to shake on this." Ada and Jill nodded at the man. Jill instantly stuck out her hand to shake Chris' again and when the confirmation of the dare/deal was done, the man turned his hand to Ada.

As Ada took Chris' hand in hers, she silently wondered what she'd just gotten herself into.

---

"Can't believe this shit," Kevin snarled as he and Leon headed to Marvin's office. Leon trailed slightly behind Kevin, shooting the older man dirty looks. They'd just gotten out of the basement of the RPD from getting their new uniforms and his temper was running thin. He didn't like the idea of being in the S.P.F. alongside Kevin anymore than Kevin liked being with him but they didn't exactly get to go tell Irons that they'd nearly fought without getting their asses reamed for fighting in the RPD. That kind of shit, Marvin had told Leon the day before after he had returned from talking to Ada and realized everybody knew about the near fight, is for outside of the RPD.

"Don't be too happy, Ryman," Marvin said as he stepped out of his office. The man looked stressed, Leon noted. His eyes had large, dark bags under them and his uniform was ruffled slightly. When the older officer caught Leon's concerned look, however, he seemed to straighten up and make himself look better. "Okay, truth be told you two, I don't know what Irons wants me to teach you."

Leon shifted uncomfortably, feeling the eyes of his peers burning into him. He wasn't certain if it was his new position or if it was the uniform. The new uniform he was wearing was a huge difference from the last one he'd been given. This one was a deep, navy blue with plating literally imbedded into the fabric to form a Kevlar vest on the front of the shirt and RPD was on the front of the Kevlar in huge, white letters. The boots were a coal black that matched the belt and there were matching black elbow pads. Black fingerless gloves finished the uniform itself. The top shirt was rough against the skin, even with an undershirt on, so Leon had already taken to wearing a long-sleeved undershirt under it.

"Maybe he doesn't want you to teach us anything," Kevin offered, grinning at Marvin. Leon shot him another unhappy look and wondered how he'd made it into a special division in the police force. He hoped that Kevin would live up to the position he now had within the RPD. Or, Leon guessed, he would just make an ass out of himself like he did every time he tried for, and failed, the S.T.A.R.S. selection. Leon also wondered if Kevin knew that the captain of S.T.A.R.S. would rather have a rookie police officer than the more experienced officer.

"Or he wants you to shut up," Marvin offered, his voice warning Kevin. Leon kept a neutral face but inside he was laughing. "Well, the day's almost over. It took most of the damn day to get your uniforms together. Speaking of which…" He trailed off and Leon noticed the slight worry in the older man's eyes. "Irons had those uniforms ready to go. Nobody made them. Or if they did, they made them quite a bit of time ago."

"So, he's been thinking about this for some time, huh?" Kevin asked. Marvin nodded and both of the S.P.F. members looked at each other. It was the first time since they'd been assigned their new positions that they'd shared the uneasy look. As Kevin looked back at Marvin, Leon found himself hoping that he and Kevin would get along after this. "It's almost time to leave, Marv. Can we start your…'training' tomorrow?"

"Why not? This is still new to both of you, I'm sure," the older officer said as he looked between the two. Of course, Leon and Kevin immediately nodded not wanting to stay any longer. Leon liked his job but, like most people, he didn't mind getting out early from work. "Alright. Head on out, you two. But, because you're getting out early, you two have to be in early tomorrow morning."

"How early?" Kevin asked, staring at his superior. Marvin looked at him silently and Kevin simply shrugged. "I was thinking about hitting the bar tonight, Marv. What do you expect? That's my place, especially if Cindy's in again." Marvin rolled his eyes and Leon smirked. He knew that Marvin respected Kevin but his nerves as a cop were being pushed.

"Fine, Kevin. Let's say, just for you, seven instead of six," Marvin replied with a smile. The officer truly belonged where he was, Leon believed. He was even tempered and had a good way of handling people. And he was fair, unlike the chief who was as biased as biased could be. "But Leon, I want you in at six." Leon was jolted from his thoughts by that but he nodded. "Good. Alright, get out before I change my mind about letting you two leave."

Leon and Kevin turned to leave, the rookie mouthing 'later' to his friends who grinned at him in response. The two officers exited the room and entered the main hall, almost bouncing with happiness. Kevin called out to Rita, making some comment about her beauty or something. Then, the older officer placed a hand on Leon's shoulder. More like he threw his hand onto Leon's shoulder because the younger cop nearly stumbled forward from it.

"Hey, I was kinda wrong in treating you the way I did because you stood up for Elran. And for that comment earlier… How 'bout you come with me to J's Bar?" Leon nearly gaped at Kevin, wanting to ask if the end of the world had happened. "It's a great place to relax at. And we need to celebrate anyway. To us, the new special group. We'll show S.T.A.R.S. up, huh kid?"

"You really don't like them, do you?" Leon asked, looking at the older man. Kevin shrugged at the comment and Leon scoffed. But then the idea of getting a nice, cold beer sounded much more appetizing than returning to his empty apartment where angry comments from his angry girlfriend would be waiting for him on the answering machine. "Where is J's Bar?"

Kevin grinned at Leon's sudden acceptance of the proposal. "Just follow me there, okay? I'll be in my squad car. Lucky me, I get to drive that thing around all the time. It's fun, sometimes. Though, if I get caught running the lights by other cops just to clear traffic, I have to listen to Irons bitch and moan." Leon laughed at that, thinking about his own beat up Jeep. It was a nice vehicle, sure. His first vehicle, actually. He'd done some work to it but it was nothing special. Now, a cop car would be fun to drive around town in.

"Sounds like a good time to me," Leon replied. Kevin nodded his head, his dark brown hair falling into his face messily. Leon had the feeling he'd just found a new friend among the ranks of the police department.

---

"Did she reject you?" Claire asked him over his phone and he cringed at her blunt way of phrasing things. Although he loved his sister, she infuriated him quite easily. And sometimes, he wondered if she truly realized what she was doing. He doubted she did. But this time, she knew. She knew how badly that hurt, being rejected. Especially by this woman, who was so enticing and yet so damned irritating.

"I didn't even really ask her, so technically no she didn't reject me," Chris said bitterly, heading into his kitchen. The apartment was decent sized, all dull brown/grey, and was filled to the brim with bachelor stuff. Garbage here, clothes there, movies and books tossed about. There was a pizza box lacking pizza on the counter. Chris wished there was pizza inside.

"Are you sure? Because the way you said it, it sounds like she rejected you," Claire replied. He could picture his sister with that annoyingly smug grin on her lips as she spoke. She had a tendency to do that to him. He wasn't certain why though. He decided to blame it on the fact that they were siblings. "But if you didn't ask her, you totally should. Maybe she'll say yes."

He hadn't asked her, right? All he'd said was that he would dance with her so people could laugh at him, not her. He shook his head, once again remembering that women weren't his strong point. He could get them into his bed but sweet talking or actually trying to develop a relationship was something he found extremely difficult.

He shook those thoughts from his head, remembering the deal. "We made a bet sort of thing… I can't ask her now anyway." He could almost hear his sister groaning and shaking her head on the other side of the phone. She hated it when he made bets with people. She knew it went to his head. "Alright, I'm going to have to go little sis. I'll call you after work tomorrow, okay?"

She mumbled something in response and they hung up the phone, almost simultaneously. He guessed that was based off of years of practice between the two of them. He'd practically raised her, after all. When their parents had died in a car crash, only two months after Chris' sixteenth birthday, he'd been left alone to care for his kid sister. Claire had been heartbroken and Chris knew for a fact that their parents' deaths still haunted her to this day.

Chris considered grabbing a beer. The idea was very appealing but he instead walked over to his couch and plopped down. Now that the bet/deal/dare had been settled between him and his two coworkers, he needed to think about what to do with his extra vacation time. Because he planned on winning. Chris Redfield never loses.


	5. The Power of Money

Duet of the Apocalypse

A/N: Sorry for lack of updates. I've reached a point in this story that seems boring to me because of lack of…interesting scenes. So, I improvised and shortened the story down quite a bit (which means the main relationship of the story is going to happen a lot faster than it originally was). A scene in this chapter wasn't going to originally be in it but I had to add it or I wouldn't update. Ever. (Just in case, it is now June in the story. It's been at least three weeks since the last chapter.)

Ada decided that Joseph Frost might as well have been named the human garbage can when he was younger. He ate everything that was set before him without a single second of hesitancy, only pausing in between pieces of food to unwrap it or take a drink from his soda.

They were at a fast food restaurant, trying to escape the upset S.T.A.R.S. captain who'd decided to make it his job to pass his anger onto the other officers. Ada had already threatened Wesker with her nine millimeter, glaring at him with the eyes of a woman who was close to snapping his neck. Chris had been the one to offer leaving the RPD to go to the restaurant to escape Wesker and nobody, not even Ada, had hesitated to agree. And that's when Ada had been introduced to Joseph's insane abilities to gorge himself on food.

"You're going to make yourself sick," Brad warned timidly over the table, his hands clamped tightly on a dripping burger. By the time any of them had taken a bite of their meal, Joseph had eaten three tacos and a burger. Ada hadn't even touched her salad yet. "And I won't cover you like I did last time."

"Last time," Jill explained as she held her drink up to her lips, "Brad saved Joseph's ass by telling Wesker he'd come down with a flu of some kind instead of just overeating." Ada blinked and looked over at Brad, who sat across from Chris. The man looked back at her, his face reddening slightly. "It was a moment of bravery from Vickers that none of us had ever seen before," Jill stated casually, almost acting as if the cowardly man wasn't sitting near enough to hear her.

"Shut up, Chickenheart," Joseph snapped suddenly, his words muffled by the mouthful of taco he was trying to speak around. "Wesker's too pissed off to even notice me today, let alone if I'm sick because of eating. Besides, I can eat more these days since I've learned the art of eating."

"Art of eating…" Chris repeated, looking at the other man. A couple chuckles escaped the other Alpha team members, even Barry who usually didn't laugh while he was eating offered a soft laugh. "I honestly didn't know there was an art of eating. Tell us, how does it work?"

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you." While everybody, again including Barry, laughed at the comment, Ada felt her lips curve down into a frown. Many people tied assassins and spies into that sort of line. In reality, assassins and spies never said such. She'd found that out herself. When there was a question that wasn't to be answered, she either ignored the question outright or simply killed the fool who asked it.

"That's the stupidest line in the world," Brad added suddenly, again showing the less cowardly side of him. "I mean, honestly, what kind of moron would say that? Even movie characters don't say that anymore." Ada shot Brad a look, wondering how long this sudden burst of courage would last. She doubted it would stay much longer.

"Yeah, well at least I have lines unlike you, Chickenheart," Joseph snapped, glaring at the other man. The pilot started to slide down into his seat, the coward in him suddenly stepping forward. Jill rolled her eyes at Brad before reaching across the table and grabbing the salt. "And you, Valentine, it's not polite to reach across the table. You should ask for somebody to pass the salt."

"Don't make me come over there and kick your ass, Frost," Barry suddenly warned as he wiped a napkin over his face. Everybody laughed at that, knowing that Barry wouldn't move for a while after eating. He was one of the few people that realized to fully get any energy from food, you had to let it settle in your stomach for a few minutes before getting up and walking around.

"Ada, you alright?" Chris suddenly asked, looking over at her. She sat in-between him and Jill so as soon as he asked that, Jill looked over too. Ada could feel their eyes burning into her skin so she shot Redfield a confused look. "You haven't touched your food… I know watching Joseph eat is sort of like watching a zombie in an old movie eat somebody but it couldn't have disgusted you that badly."

Ada almost, _almost_, felt sick to her stomach. That word, zombie, was becoming realer every day. All she could hear about from Wesker was the effects of the T-Virus on humans and she'd already seen a couple pictures. The cannibal murders, the virus itself, the mansion… Chris' stupid attempt at a joke had hit her a lot harder than he'd intended. But, like always, she managed to put on a fake face that completely masked how disgusted with Umbrella's research she was.

"I'm just not that hungry. I'm thinking about our bet, actually," she lied, looking over at the dark haired man. Immediately Chris' eyes lit up like flares. The mere mention of the bet over the last couple weeks had brought massive excitement to him. He thought he was going to win. No, he expected to win, she guessed. But that was because he'd never gone up against her.

"Yeah, about the BDD… I already have a date," Jill stated triumphantly, grinning at her two bet-mates. For a second, Ada wanted to ask Jill who she was taking. But then the brunette's sentence played over in her head and she realized that she had no idea what the 'BDD' was.

"What the hell did you just say?" Chris asked, obviously as confused as his fellow officer. Of course, the rest of the team looked at the trio like they were tripping on some very expensive drugs but they paid no mind to the men. Ada noticed Joseph slowly take a bite out of his last burger, watching the three with wide eyes, out of the corner of her eye.

"BDD," Jill repeated with a wide smirk. "It means: Bet, Deal, Dare. I made it up for our bet. Because it's basically all three. I can't believe that's the first time you two have noticed me say it. I've been saying it since the day we made it. And people say _I _act like I have my head in the clouds."

"I've had a busy week," Ada remarked, the lie sliding off her tongue easily. "Speaking of busy week… I need to get to my apartment before our lunch break ends. I need to pick something up." Several sad groans responded to her statement and she felt slight unease build inside her. Although she wasn't connected to them, not really at least, she did feel slightly guilty for betraying these good people. They didn't deserve the fate they were getting.

"We'll stall Wesker if you're late," Chris promised as she stood. "And I'll take your salad to the RPD. Somebody might actually eat it." She wanted to smirk at that but something made her simply offer him a stiff nod. She walked away from the table, listening to the friendly 'laters' and 'byes' from her so-called 'friends.'

As soon as she was outside, she could feel Umbrella's hidden cameras on her. She'd spent the first couple days in Raccoon City learning everything about it. She'd found every single hidden camera there was and memorized where they were. If she was going to do something not approved by Umbrella standards, she knew the perfect places to do such and get away with it. As she started for her car, a brand new Corvette C5 with a blood red paintjob, she flashed the nearest camera a cold smile. Let those bastards at Umbrella squirm as they realized she knew their little secrets.

She climbed into her car and rested her hands on the steering wheel before she even considered starting the vehicle up. She didn't want to go to her apartment, where she would have to change from S.T.A.R.S. officer to petty scientist in seconds to pull off talking to Jon Howe, a man she was using to get Umbrella secrets for Wesker. When he'd ordered her to start pulling secrets from the scientist she'd met in a convention months back, she'd wanted to laugh. The mere reason Umbrella had placed her in S.T.A.R.S. was being proven true. Wesker had his own goals. And she was, in a way, helping him.

Why? Money. Ah, a lovely thing those green pieces of paper are. Ada was a woman who loved her money. And Wesker was offering her a bigger paycheck, and a better job, if she helped him. So, she'd taken to 'seeing' Jon, which meant talking to him on the phone every now and then and maybe even agreeing to go for a coffee. The scientist was gullible, easily falling into her hands as she played her charm. She sometimes wondered if he'd dance like a marionette if she so wished.

Yet another reason she hated her job. She didn't like playing poor Jon like she was. He was an innocent, somebody who was just doing what he loved, even going so far as to work on healing factors of the virus instead of its weapon potential. And yet, she knew that there was a great possibility of him either having his heart ripped out or even dying because of Umbrella. Either way, he wasn't having very much luck.

A shake of her head cleared out any guilt that existed in her and she started the car up. She'd call Jon, sweet talk him for a few minutes, then return to work and give Wesker a new rundown on anything Jon said during the call. She hoped he'd say something important. Wesker was in a bad mood. And he tended to take it out on her. Luckily she could defend herself and Wesker knew that. She wondered what kind of a penalty there would be if she hurt her 'boss.' Umbrella wouldn't care. She'd been placed in the S.T.A.R.S. to watch over Wesker in the first place.

With a sigh, she pulled out of the parking space. Working for Wesker was going to be weird. And it was definitely going to take some getting used to.

---

The late afternoon sun bathed his gunmetal gray Jeep in orange, making it almost glow gold. His right hand rested on the door handle, not even tugging against the piece of metal, just resting while his left hand squeezed his car key and the keychain attached to it. He wasn't really that excited about going home, not with his crankier than hell 'girlfriend' who made it her job to make his life more difficult than it already was. He really didn't want to be yelled at. Not after the day he'd had.

"How unorthodox, a cop driving a Jeep instead of a squad car," a voice purred behind him, sounding so velvety he felt the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He turned, not fast enough to make himself dizzy, and looked at the woman who stood by the Corvette that stood out like a sore thumb in the parking lot. Leon swallowed thickly, trying to quell the burst of excitement that seemed to swell in his chest. It had been weeks since he'd seen her last.

"Yeah, well, I'm an unorthodox sort of guy," he remarked casually enough, hoping his face and eyes didn't show the excitement he felt at seeing her again. The Eurasian woman looked pretty much the same as always though her vest was missing. The T-shirt she was wearing hugged her form, showing off all the curves of her body. He suddenly dropped his eyes from her body, letting them land on the Corvette behind her.

"Obviously," she said with a serious nod. He glanced at her again and their eyes met. "So, how's training for the S.P.F. been?" Leon was almost glad she'd changed the subject from his Jeep to his training. He and Kevin were as, Marvin had said, ready as they were going to be. He'd stopped the actual training three or so days before but apparently nobody realized that.

"We're done, actually. Now we're kind of just…existing. Nothing to do… Kevin's getting antsy. I don't really get why he's shocked that we have nothing to do. S.T.A.R.S. still gets all of the good missions," he stated. Then he cringed, visibly, remembering who he was talking to. But the raven haired woman just smiled.

"Don't worry, I'm not that fond of S.T.A.R.S. I won't tell on you or anything. As long as you don't insult me, at least." Her voice seemed to have the same affect on him that a snake charmer's pungi had on a cobra. He almost felt entranced. Then again, from the first time he'd seen her something had grabbed his attention, and it was more than her looks. Something about her was just…unexplainably captivating. And he wasn't certain what it was.

"I wouldn't insult you," he assured. Her eyes flickered with something akin to confusion and she smiled at him in slight shock. He recognized the look. It was one his mother had given him when he was younger, when he'd have moments of odd brilliance. Even at a young age, people had said that he was extremely intelligent. "But… Why would you join S.T.A.R.S. if…"

"I don't like them?" she finished, looking away from him. The sun's rays, having worked their magic with his Jeep, now settled on her and made her glow in an unearthly way. She looked like a ghost or some kind of mythical creature that was just too beautiful to exist in a world that was becoming hideous. She spoke right as the young rookie forced himself to stop thinking such ridiculous things. "I don't know honestly."

He gave her a confused look but she wouldn't look back. It seemed like she was in her own little world, thinking about something that he didn't know. When she did look at him, her eyes didn't meet his. Instead, he noticed that her eyes flickered towards his left hand. "You're bleeding," she suddenly said.

Leon remembered his car key and looked down at his left hand. He opened his hand from its closed-fist and saw that she was right. His silver key and blue key chain were covered in crimson liquid. He wasn't wearing his gloves, though he was still in uniform, and the keys had sliced his palm when he'd held them too tightly in his hand. He felt embarrassment and anger build.

"Great," he mumbled shoving his keys into his pocket. He pulled his hand back out but before he could look at the wound, Ada was there, holding the sides of his hand carefully to look at his palm. The sudden closeness to her made him want to back away as old habits of fleeing from the 'pretty girl from the other class' appeared in his mind.

"It's not too bad," she said, looking up at him. The proximity to her allowed him to see her eyes up close for the first time. They were a pale emerald with silver imbedded in them. "You'll want to wrap it in bandages but it's not going to stop you from shooting a gun." He nodded nervously.

"Uh, yeah, okay. Thanks," he said, his voice wavering slightly. She released her grip on his hand and they both lowered their hands to their sides. An awkward silence immediately filled the space that had been created by them dropping their hands and Leon again felt the need to back away. But it was Ada who made the first move.

With a step backwards, she said, "I should get going." He nodded, not bothering to try and form a sentence. He knew it wasn't a good idea for him to try and speak at the moment. And not for the first time he realized how ridiculous he was. Never had he buckled under pressure, never had he cowered out in a fight, and yet he still couldn't face a girl without becoming embarrassed somehow.

As she went to her Corvette, he turned to unlock his Jeep, forgetting that he already had unlocked his Jeep. Suddenly, the sound of an engine refusing to start met his ears and he turned around again. Ada had already gotten into her car, moving faster than he had even though he was right next to his vehicle, but the 'Vette wasn't moving.

He cocked his head curiously and heard her growl, "You've got to be kidding me." Her voice was faint as the engine growled and stuttered as it attempted to come to life. He could imagine the anger on her young face as the brand new car refused to start. Leon knew that if he was in the 'Vette, a string of curses would escape his lips in a matter of seconds. Why pay so much money to get a vehicle that wouldn't start?

"Problems?" he asked, knowing that it was a stupid question, as she climbed back out of the car. She looked over at him and he gave her a nervous smile. "Stupid, I know, but I had to ask. I can help with something. I may not be the best mechanic in the world but I know some stuff about vehicles."

"No, it's okay. I think I know what happened to it and….nothing less than a mechanic is going to fix it. I'll have to call in a tow truck. Good thing I don't have anything going on at home tonight," she mumbled with a shake of her head. Leon, having been raised by his mother to be a gentleman, realized that he wasn't going to just let her stay at the RPD because her car was being stupid.

"I can, uh, give you a…ride home," he offered uncertainly, watching her. The sun was starting the final stretches of the sunset, casting black shadows over the parking lot, but he could still see her. She gave him a shocked look and he shrugged. "Only if you want… I just… My mom always told me to never leave a woman in a dark parking lot, no matter what occupation they are."

The raven haired woman watched him for a second before she smiled and said, "I'd like a ride home. I'll just call for a tow truck in the morning." He grinned, almost triumphantly, at her acceptance of his offer. She closed her Corvette's door, locked the vehicle, and walked over to his Jeep. "I'll give you directions on the way, okay?"

With a nod, he opened the Jeep's driver side door and climbed in. Ada walked around the vehicle and did the same. He put his seat belt on while grabbing his keys from his pocket. He put them in the ignition and turned them. The engine growled to life, almost startlingly loud for some reason. As soon as he heard the resounding click of Ada's seatbelt snapping into place, he put the vehicle in reverse and backed out of the parking lot.

The streets of Raccoon City bustled with activity as people headed home. The sidewalks and the roads were equally filled but the traffic kept moving at a steady pace. Ada calmly said, "I live on Euston Street. You know where that is right?" He quickly thought of the map he'd memorized of Raccoon City. Euston Street was about three blocks behind the RPD and connected to Central Street and Warren Street.

"Yep. There are apartments there?" he asked, glancing over at her. She was leaning slightly against the Jeep door and nodded at his question. "Wow. I didn't know that." She laughed gently at his comment and then silence filled the vehicle. Leon turned off Ennerdale Street and onto Warren. Usually he would've turned the radio on but he didn't bother with it now.

They were passing City Hall when she suddenly said, "You were offered a job in the S.T.A.R.S." He glanced at her, knowing he looked a little more confused than he wanted to, but she continued to stare out the windshield. How had she figured out about Wesker's proposal? "You turned it down. Why?" He wondered if Wesker had told her. Or if she'd known all along. After all, she was the co-captain of S.T.A.R.S.

"I just didn't want to join them. I'm not really interested in that kind of a job… Besides, I never would've become S.P.F. if I'd joined S.T.A.R.S." His attempt at a joke was pathetic and she simply looked over at him. He returned his gaze to the road, knowing that Euston was coming up. "I just didn't want to be part of the S.T.A.R.S. The position he offered me wasn't something I wanted to be. So, I declined. But he was pretty persistent. In the end, Irons giving me this job in the S.P.F. saved me from having Wesker ask me to join the S.T.A.R.S."

Out of his peripheral, her noticed she looked back out over the road. With a sigh, she stated, "I regret agreeing to joining, honestly. Wesker breathes down my neck, Irons does too, everybody looks at me like I'm some kind of superhero in my apartment complex. It's annoying." He remembered that RPD officers hated S.T.A.R.S. because of their fame. "But I didn't really get a choice so it doesn't matter."

He was turning onto Euston when she said that so he didn't honestly get the chance to question her on what she meant. She pointed at the large apartment buildings on the right of the street and he pulled up into the parking lot. The Jeep crawled at a slow speed through the parking lot before he found an empty 'guest' parking space and placed the Jeep inside of it. He placed the vehicle into park and waited.

"Life sucks, huh?" she asked, her hand dropping to open the door. He laughed and nodded his head. "Thanks for the ride, rookie. Though… I guess I can't really call you that anymore, can I?" He shrugged.

"I don't really mind. I'll always be a rookie to some people anyway," he stated, trying to act nonchalant. She smiled and he noticed there was something wrong. Her smile wasn't a real smile and she looked tired. "I'll uh…walk you to your apartment," he offered. Her smile widened slightly, becoming a little more real.

"Always the gentleman, Leon," she purred, opening the door. She climbed out and he shut the Jeep off. They walked towards the apartment buildings in silence, just savoring the cooling air of the approaching night and the silence that came with it. Leon noticed the lack of sirens and wondered why there wasn't a single siren going off somewhere in the city. Odd.

They made it to her apartment and she stopped in front of her door. Leon almost felt like a high school student again, taking Jane home after a date. He remembered the nervous feeling of standing before her front door with her, wondering if they were actually going to kiss or not. Ada, however, wasn't his girlfriend so those thoughts that tried to push themselves into his mind were shoved away.

"Thanks for the ride home, Leon. I probably wouldn't have even spoken to the tow truck company by now, let alone actually have my car picked up. I owe you one," she said, looking up at him. He realized that she wasn't that much shorter than he was, something that he noticed because of the odd proximity between them. She was only about a foot or so away from him.

"You don't owe me. Anybody would've done it. I mean, we're all cops. We're all ordered to protect and serve and that means other cops too, you know," he said casually, though he secretly took pleasure in knowing that it wasn't anybody else, it was him. He'd taken her home, no one else.

They stood in another awkward silence and he almost shied away. He should be turning and leaving, she should be opening her door to go inside, and yet neither of them were moving. They should be, but they weren't. Why? She lowered her gaze from his suddenly and he felt that the silence was becoming unbearable. When she looked back up at him, it seemed like she wanted to say something but couldn't.

Without really thinking, he took a step forward. And to his amazement, she didn't move but seemed to lean closer to him. They barely knew each other. This sudden….what? What was going on? Lust? Whatever it was, he knew that after only speaking three or four times shouldn't lead to this. Not that fast. They should go on dates - not that he could because he had a girlfriend – before they try something like this.

But before he could convince himself to back off, before he could even consider the repercussions, he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.


	6. Irons Likes to Speak

Duet of the Apocalypse

A/N: I just wanted to say this before anybody got all uptight and just to be cautious for myself. I have my theories about Ada and everybody else has their theories. If you don't agree with my theories, I accept that. But I ask you to not bitch and moan about my choice of Ada's past. It's my opinion/theory and I'm free to say it as I please. Also, this is a really short chapter in comparison to the others. I messed up the beginning when I first wrote it and when I rewrote it, it wasn't so great… So, this chapter is epic fail in my eyes.

She silently asked herself when the last time she'd been kissed was. Had she ever been kissed? Had somebody ever shown her that much love? She doubted it. It was highly unlikely that anybody, even her parents, had ever kissed her. And she hadn't gone to high school so it wasn't like she could just grab a boyfriend. No, this kissing was completely new.

But whether it was new or not, she liked it. She truly enjoyed it. The Ice Queen, whom everybody claimed needed no human contact or love, was enjoying one of the more intimate forms of human contact. Her father, no doubt, was rolling over in his grave. Especially because the man she was kissing was as Caucasian as Caucasian could be.

Her hands gripped at his uniform tightly, almost like she was afraid he'd pull away even though he'd started it all. And his arms were wrapped tightly around her, like he was afraid she'd pull away in fear because of their supposed-to-be rival thanks to the S.T.A.R.S./RPD hatred. But neither of them stepped away from the other.

She was considering moving her hands up, to let her fingers touch his hair – which she knew would be soft – but something seemed to be beeping in the background. Slight recognition rushed through her and she tried to ignore it. But her ignoring skills weren't as good as one might think. And the alarm clock, its monotonous beeping filling her bedroom, dragged her forth from her dream.

Ada groaned and ran a hand through her short hair, brushing the sweaty strands away from her forehead. The room was hot, way too hot, thanks to a lack of air conditioner in the building. She doubted it helped her that her mind was repeating the kiss with the young officer over and over. That was the third time that night she'd awoken from a dream about kissing him.

"Pathetic," she mumbled, letting her hand slide out of her hair and onto her face to rub at her eyes. She was tired and her body felt weighed down, like lead was sliding through her veins instead of blood, but she rolled off of the mattress and onto her feet. Wesker would not tolerate laziness.

Speaking of Wesker, she realized that all hell would break loose if the captain found out about the night before. Although officers were allowed to hold relationships with each other, she wasn't. Wesker had blatantly warned her away from the men of the RPD. And she guessed it was because he thought she'd let secrets slip. How he doubted her abilities. She felt insulted.

She walked into her bathroom to start up the shower when she noticed the tired looking woman in the mirror. Never before had she looked tired, like she was a car running on no gas and was pushing for those few extra feet. And she knew it wasn't because of her lack of sleep. She could go days without sleep. It was something else. She prayed to whatever deity that was in the sky that it wasn't the rookie officer.

As she turned to prepare her shower, she realized something that scared her in a way no enemy ever could. The night before, something within her seemed to snap, like the assassin in her was crumbling to pieces. And although that might've been a good thing at one point, it wasn't so great while she was in the middle of a mission.

And yet she didn't really care, not even now when she knew it would make her lose everything. Maybe it was because she'd never truly felt emotions like the ones she was now encountering. Maybe it was because she really did respect the young officer, especially for his boldness in taking that first step the night before but…didn't that mean that she had more than just respect for him? Whatever. It was something. It was something she wasn't, for the first time in her life, certain that she could handle.

---

Ah life, tis full of the most out of the ordinary situations. And Leon was finding this out first hand thanks to his, what he considered to be, foolish mistake the night before. He'd never felt awkward walking into work before but he guessed that it was only natural to feel so odd. After all, it wasn't often that RPD and S.T.A.R.S. mingled, let alone actually having something like a relationship. Of course, he and Ada didn't really have a relationship. At least, he didn't think so.

He kept thinking about the previous night, how he'd taken that final step and instead of pulling away like he'd expected her to, Ada had kissed him back. Her hands had grabbed onto the collar of his uniform, holding tight enough that he probably couldn't have pulled her hands off his clothing if he tried. And then, after staying in the kiss long enough to make his lungs burn, they'd separated. With wide, almost fearful eyes, they'd regarded each other before she'd whispered a gentle good night and disappeared into her apartment.

It had taken all of his energy to return to his Jeep. He'd practically collapsed into it, his elbows settling onto the steering wheel so his hands could serve as a bowl for his face. He wasn't certain how long he'd stayed like that in the parking lot, acting like a boy with a broken heart instead of an officer regretting his stupid idea, but when he'd finally started the vehicle up the night had replaced the day.

As if in a daze, he'd driven home and had ignored his furious girlfriend who'd decided she was going to live with him even though their relationship was failing. He vaguely remembered mumbling a bitter statement towards her, effectively silencing her, and he'd stumbled into his bedroom. The night had been difficult and Leon had been unable to get any sleep. He'd feared how Ada would react and he'd been unable to stop thinking about the many consequences that could be born from his mistake.

Somewhere in the dead of the night, a dark thought had crossed his mind. The thought was simple, and it made sense in a way he didn't like. Had he kissed Ada, the lovely S.T.A.R.S. officer who could have any man she wanted with a smile and a wink, to spite Jane in some twisted way? Had he somehow hoped that Jane would see him kissing the woman that made her, Jane, look like chopped liver? Had he become that vindictive?

"Leon…" a voice said from what seemed like a great distance, splintering the thoughts. The young officer lifted his gaze from his computer and up to the face of Ark Thompson. He was at work, of course, and had lost himself to his memories of the night. Ark looked at him with worried eyes. No doubt the other man was wondering why his friend, usually so talkative and friendly, was subdued. And that made Leon wonder why he was acting like he'd had his heart broken instead of having kissed Ada. "Irons wants everybody to head to the front hall, in case you didn't hear."

Had Irons given that order over the intercom? Had Leon been that lost in his memories? No wonder Ark was worried. Leon realized he was letting the stupid kiss get to him, more so than he'd ever let a kiss get to him. Even when Jane had kissed him in high school he didn't think nearly as much as he was now.

"Why?" Leon asked, standing from his desk. "Does he want us to go out and buy him some doughnuts or something?" Ark shot Leon a look of disbelief and the other officer knew why. He wasn't cruel and he rarely made comments about somebody's weight or looks. This sudden ferocity didn't match the kindhearted officer. "Dammit, I didn't mean that…" Leon mumbled, shaking his head.

"What's wrong with you, man?" Ark asked carefully, making sure none of the cops that were starting to walk past them to get to the front hall heard. "You've been zoned out all morning, you're acting weird… What the hell? I mean, if I didn't know better…I'd say… You're drugged up or something." Leon felt horror bloom in his chest like a flower opening for the first time. Never had Ark ever said something like that. The other man knew how Leon felt about drugs. And Ark noticed Leon's unease, quickly stating, "But I know you and I know you wouldn't do that."

Leon lowered his head and looked at his boots, the black leather shining under the fluorescent lights. Could he tell Ark about what had happened? He knew the other man wouldn't say anything but… Leon knew that his friends contained slight jealously towards him for his sudden promotion into the S.P.F. while they remained as patrol cops. They were happy for him but there was still that inkling of jealousy. Telling Ark that he'd kissed an officer who had control over possible promotions among lesser ranking cops could cause problems that Leon didn't want.

So, thinking quickly, Leon said, "I think Jane's breaking up with me." Ark's face fell. Apparently the other officer regretted questioning his friend because he started to open his mouth to speak but Leon shrugged, successfully interrupting him. "I've just been thinking about why but…you know, I don't really care. But we got into a fight last night and I didn't really sleep…which explains the zoned part." He almost wanted to congratulate himself on keeping that very last part at least slightly true.

"Come on," Marvin suddenly said, startling the two younger men as he walked by. Leon felt Marvin's unease about what was going on. Obviously he was confused about why Irons was calling a meeting as well. That was not, in any way, comforting. "If you two get me or any of the others in trouble with Irons, I swear I'll personally kick your asses."

"Damn Marvin," Elza mumbled as she walked over to join her friends. The older officer shot her a silencing look and she seemed to shrink into herself. Marvin walked out of the office and the three rookies followed, not wanting to make Marvin upset. Ark gently touched Elza's shoulder, like he was trying to comfort her, but she didn't really react to his gesture.

They walked into the front hall as Irons finished his greeting to the police officers. Leon looked around nervously, searching for the already familiar short, raven colored hair and pale skin. But Ada wasn't anywhere near him. At least, not that he could see. He felt himself relax a little more until he noticed that standing near the statue of the goddess with the pitcher down below was the bulky Barry Burton. Fellow S.T.A.R.S. stood near him. No doubt Ada was among their ranks.

"No doubt you all know about the Raccoon City Police Department's Fourth of July dance coming up," Irons started. Leon only half heard the head officer. His eyes scanned the faces of the S.T.A.R.S. officers, searching – in what, hope? – for the beautiful face of Ada. Perhaps it was the gentleman in him that was speaking but he wanted to apologize for the kiss. "I've decided that most of you aren't prepared for the dance."

As Irons babbled on about something, of which Leon couldn't have cared less about, the young officer realized that Ada was not among her fellow officers. Both Alpha and Bravo team stood down by the statue and Wesker stood to Barry's right. So, where the hell was Ada Wong? Leon felt concern building but tried to calm himself down. She might've taken a sick day. And not because of the kiss. Maybe she had a cold.

Yeah… Because that's believable.

"So, this upcoming Sunday, anybody who wants to come prepare for the dance, is welcome. For S.T.A.R.S., like the dance itself, this practice is mandatory for them and their dates." Audible groans were heard from the S.T.A.R.S. and Leon, not for the first time, was grateful he wasn't one of them. "You can all return to your jobs now."

The officers shuffled quietly away while Ark turned to Marvin. "That was pointless," the brown haired man groaned to the tall officer. "He pulled us all out of work to tell us about some practice dance for something only the S.T.A.R.S. have to go to? And nobody…nobody cares."

"This is common for Irons," Marvin replied casually. He looked almost bored now, making Leon wonder what had made him so uneasy earlier. "He likes to use us cops as practice for any future public speaking he might be doing." Marvin then turned and walked back into his section of the station.

"So it's true," Elza said with a smile. When her friends gave her confused looks, she explained, "I read the newspapers so I know that there's been this rumor going around that Irons wants to run for mayor when the chance comes up. No doubt that's the public speaking Marvin was talking about."

Ark smiled and said something about how smart she was, making Leon almost cringe. He started to head back to the office, prepared to leave the two alone to gaze 'lovingly' at each other, when a sultry voice said, "Leon… I wanted to talk to you." He froze, every muscle in his body locking as he recognized Ada's voice. She stood next to the office door and he got the eerie feeling that she hadn't been there seconds before. She seemed to have appeared there like a ghost.

"Uh… Okay," he said gently. She motioned for him to join her as she started for the ramp. He followed her, quickly catching up to her thanks to his long stride, and they walked casually side-by-side. Something told him that she didn't want to talk about last night. She wanted to talk about something else.

They made it to the double doors that led to the outside when she said, "I won't lie to you…" Oh God, he thought. Here comes the 'I'm going to kill you in your sleep if you ever mention the kiss' threat. But her voice was gentle, not threatening. "There's this stupid bet thing going on between me and two other S.T.A.R.S." As she pushed open the doors, Leon couldn't help but sigh in relief, hoping it wasn't loud enough for her to actually hear. If she did, she didn't pay it any heed. She kept speaking instead. "And it's basically whoever can bring the most unlikely date to that stupid dance gets the other two people's vacation time…"

It clicked in a second, what she was trying to say. He looked at her and asked, "Me? You're asking me?" She smiled slightly, almost unnoticeable with how small the smile was. Obviously, last night didn't exist to her. Leon guessed he might as well act like it hadn't as well. "Uh… Okay… I guess. I mean, why would I be…" He cut himself off, remembering the general dislike for rookies. The perfect officer dancing with a clumsy rookie. Very unlikely. "Never mind."

"I… Don't think I'm trying to use you. I really wouldn't mind going to a dance with you…" she started, looking up at him with apprehensive eyes. He guessed she'd stopped talking because she realized she was pretty much using him. And although a part of him didn't really mind, the nearly heartbroken man in him hated the idea.

He distantly noticed that they'd stopped walking and were now standing about a meter away from the double doors. And something in him wanted to keep walking. Because at least walking would get rid of some of the anger that was bubbling to life. He'd learned at a young age that walking helped calm him down.

"No, no, I get it," he said, knowing that his anger was likely to be evident in his voice. He wanted to go to a dance with her. But not because of a bet. "It's okay. I'll go with you. Then you can enjoy your vacation time because, come on, who would think of you with the rookie cop, right?" She cringed at his words and he regretted his anger but he didn't take the words back. "I'll pick you up Sunday, okay?" He didn't even wait for her to nod before he started back for the station.

But as he was walking away from her, he thought he heard her whisper, "…I'm sorry…" He guessed he was just imagining things.


	7. Good Shootin'

Duet of the Apocalypse

A/N: Short, mostly boring chapter. I had difficulty with this chapter because of its lack of…content… Anyway, some news. The dance, which I know everybody wants, will be happening very soon. (In the next couple chapters.) To prepare for that, the next chapter will be the practice dance which contains my personal favorite scene. So, hopefully the next chapter will hold you guys over until the actual dance chapter.

She gripped the nine millimeter tightly in her right hand, her pale eyes scanning the inky blackness before her. Chris and Jill stood close to her, their guns aimed at the darkness like they saw something she didn't. She knew the truth. They were hoping to scare the fools that were hiding in the darkness. The same with Barry and Wesker. The only ones not pointing their guns into the dark, along with Ada, were Joseph and Brad.

"Come out with your hands up and nobody will get hurt," a police officer boomed over the megaphone behind them. It was standard procedure but the loudness of it made the S.T.A.R.S. jump in shock. Ada shot a look out the door of the building that was right behind her.

A large portion of the RPD stood outside of the warehouse that she and the rest of the Alpha team were now in, their eyes staring blankly at the building and its new occupants. She almost wished Leon was standing up front but if he was there, which was unlikely since he and Kevin would've gone in before them, he was more likely to be towards the back of the group.

"They're not going to play that way," Jill mumbled to the rest of the team. The terrorists, which is what they were being called even though they were only a street gang, had requested that S.T.A.R.S. be sent in to retrieve the hostages they had. Apparently, the gang thought S.T.A.R.S. wouldn't do everything they could to take the enemy out. It was probably the name, Ada thought.

"Of course they aren't. That wouldn't be standard bad guy style," Barry joked. Ada wondered how he was able to keep such a happy attitude even though he was entering what could possibly be a trap. In fact, all of the team believed that it was indeed a trap. Ada herself believed that she would be killing some people today. "Besides, that would be boring anyway."

"Shh," Wesker hissed, shooting his teammates warning looks. He'd taken off his glasses – it seemed to be the first time in months seeing as the skin under the sunglasses was actually paler than the rest of his skin – and was now looking forward with steely blue eyes. Ada looked there as well and spotted a beefed up man with tattoos covering his entire body. His pale skin was a stark contrast in comparison to his darker skinned comrades, both of African decent apparently.

"We're here, like you asked," Ada said, stepping forward. Immediately, the three men turned their eyes to her and stared at her. This was the plan. Wesker wanted her to be a distraction. "Now hand over the hostages. We'll leave, like planned, and you can return to dealing with the police." Nobody mentioned how stupid a plan that was. She knew a trick when she saw one and this was one terrible trick.

"Yeah, we kinda changed our minds," the tattooed male stated suddenly, stepping towards them. "See, we realized that the second we lose our hostages, we won't have anything to bargain with. What fun is that? I mean, honestly now. So, we're keeping some of the hostages. Unless…you have something to trade…?" The last was ended with a question, as if he actually expected them to trade something.

"Me," she said, her voice steely and empty of emotions. Wesker's head whipped around and she felt his eyes boring into her skin along with her other teammates but she didn't care. She knew what she was doing. "Take me for the hostages. They won't kill a S.T.A.R.S. member, now will they?"

"I like that idea," the tattooed man said, motioning for his two friends to go to her. "The hostages are around back. The pigs out there didn't even bother looking back there. Guess they're not smart animals after all, huh?" Ada doubted he even understood the insult he'd just said.

"Go," she said to her teammates. Wesker motioned for them to pull out and, although she could tell they wanted to argue, they followed their captain out willingly. As soon as she was alone with the gang members, a venomous smile found its way onto her lips. "You think you're clever, don't you? They know there aren't any hostages. And there won't be anymore bargaining after this."

The gang had held the hostages in the building for nearly two days. Ada knew that after a while, the police would give up and send in a team designed for killing. Probably S.T.A.R.S. Possibly S.P.F. Unlikely patrolmen. She also knew that the trick they'd just pulled off was likely to turn around and blow up in their face. Cops didn't like to be screwed with.

"Oh really? Shame. But we've got you," the tattooed male stated, starting towards her. Her muscles tensed under her heavy clothing and her fingers curled into her palms. A quick kick here and she could kill the one nearest to her, a swift flick of the wrist and she could throw her hidden throwing knife into the throat of the tattooed man, and she could take the last moron out with a well placed shot. All of this she pictured in her head, knowing that they would barely be able to keep up with her.

Before she could set her plan into motion, however, a thunderous crack echoed through the darkened warehouse and the tattooed man collapsed to the ground, a hole in his head. Ada looked in the direction the shot had come from and spotted two familiar faces. Leon and Kevin stood side-by-side, their dark uniforms making them blend into the shadows around them.

The gang members went for their guns and the two cops opened fire, taking the two men down in three shots. Leon's shot had hit one man in the head while Kevin's two shots had hit the other man in the chest and head. Ada was shocked. Where did they come from? Why hadn't she known they were there? She'd known that the gang had only consisted of three people before anybody else, she'd known that there weren't any hostages left, and yet she hadn't noticed the two cops.

"They killed the hostages yesterday. Dumped their bodies out back. They sent us in to help you," Kevin explained as he walked over to the three bodies. Leon stayed where he was, his pale eyes scanning the building. Ada was shocked. She hadn't seen Leon on an actual assignment so his impressive abilities were startling and new. "Why did you stay back? The rest went to see the bodies."

"I tricked them into thinking I'd trade myself up for the hostages," Ada said, looking at Kevin. The dark haired officer shot her a disbelieving look. "I knew I could take the three of them out before they could do anything to me." At this comment, Leon looked at her curiously. But he soon looked away again. She nearly cringed. Since she'd asked him to the dance, he'd avoided looking at her and, for some unknown reason, that had hurt her.

"Right…" Kevin said stiffly. Suddenly, the sound of boots slapping concrete filled the warehouse as RPD patrolmen poured into the building. They were now going to do a sweep of the building and see if the gang had kept somebody alive while paramedics came in and loaded the bodies onto stretchers.

"Ada, you okay?" Chris suddenly called, jogging over to her. She started to nod and noticed that Leon had turned and was now walking out of the building. "You could've gotten yourself killed," Chris continued though Ada wasn't listening any longer. She'd been meaning to tell the young officer something but hadn't had the time.

"I'll talk to you later, Chris," Ada said, holding up a hand to the other S.T.A.R.S. officer. The man looked at her in confusion and started to stammer something out when Ada walked away from him and towards the exit. Before she could make it out of the building, she silently asked what she was doing. Why was she trying to talk to Leon? Why was she acting like a school girl?

As a trained assassin, a spy of epic proportions, she wasn't capable of emotions. She wasn't allowed to have any emotions, not even ones like anger or sorrow. Those weren't allowed for somebody like her. An emotional assassin was useless. An emotional spy was pointless. And she knew that this sudden…attraction to that cop had the possibility to doom her. And she didn't even really understand why she was so…attracted to him. He was just…

"Ada?" a familiar voice asked and she lifted her eyes to see none other than Leon himself standing before her. His pale eyes, so icy blue they almost looked whitish, peered down at her curiously and she felt like those eyes of his were tearing her apart. "You okay? You're kinda just…standing here…"

"I…Uh… I'm…" she stammered and then cringed. What was wrong with her? She quickly ordered herself to stop being so…human. She wasn't really human, not in the essence that human's are creatures with emotions like love and sorrow. No, she was more robot than she was human. "I just wanted to head back to the station before the streets got too crowded but…I remembered that…I didn't bring my car so I have to wait for the rest of the Alphas."

Leon looked suddenly unhappy, like he'd been expecting her to say something else. But then the look faded and he said, "I think your captains by the K-9 van. You could probably get him to make your team hurry." Then he brushed by her and walked back into the belly of the warehouse. And although Ada was trying to make herself feel triumphant for taking control of her emotions, all she really felt was an unknown emotional pain.

---

He wrote rapidly, trying to complete the report before the rest of the RPD filed in. He and Kevin had agreed that they'd get their reports done with before anybody could say anything to them. That way, they could be left alone for the majority of the day. And around here, with the spreading murders in the forest causing panic in everybody including the police, being left alone was a nice thing.

His tiny handwriting covered about half of the page already. He was a fast writer, having been disciplined by his father to think that fast, small handwriting was best. After all, Leon had to be the best in everything. His siblings were looked upon like failures by his father, his mother hadn't cared about them enough to stand up for them, so all of the pressure of creating at least _one _perfect child had come down on Leon's head.

The officer shook his head violently, tying to clear out the thoughts of his less than pleasant childhood, when a gentle knock sounded at the door. He flinched, wondering who would knock on the door. It was open to anybody, though officers of another division were likely to knock at the door as a sign of courtesy. When he didn't answer, the door open and he heard the heavy tell-tale thunk of boots against the linoleum.

"I thought I ought to catch you before the rest return…in case you decide to snap at me or whatever," a familiar feminine voice purred and his hand stopped. He could finish the report later. Two hands carefully rested on his shoulders and even though he knew he should've snapped at her to get away, he just relaxed instead. She'd hurt him with the dance thing. It hurt more than she knew. But she still had his attention, even when he wanted to remain impassive.

"They're going to be back soon," he mumbled in a weak attempt to make her leave the room. He knew that was a pathetic thing to say. After all, she knew that. No doubt, as a S.T.A.R.S. officer, she knew exactly when they'd return. But he had to try something. He wasn't just going to be a meek officer. That just wasn't how he worked.

"I know," she replied gently, her voice surprisingly soft. Whenever Ada had spoken to him before, he'd had this feeling that she was self-assured, that she knew she couldn't do wrong, and her voice was always strong. When she spoke, one would hear this self-assuredness and know she wasn't a woman who could easily be messed with. Yet, here she was speaking to him like she was trying to console him. Or like she was giving in. "But I owe you an apology."

He tensed up, hoping she didn't notice but he knew she did, and wondered what she meant. Did she mean an apology for asking him to the dance? If so, he wouldn't mind the apology though, no doubt, he'd try to pass it off and make it sound like it was his mistake, not hers. Or was it an apology for today? He doubted that. He doubted she even knew that he'd been offended and hurt. Hell, he still wasn't certain why he was so offended and hurt.

"It wasn't right of me to try and use you… It's just…" She trailed off and Leon had the funniest feeling that she wasn't very good at apologies. Strong willed people often weren't good at apologies though. He wasn't very good at apologies. The last time he'd apologized to somebody was the little nerdy kid he'd picked on during a very bad day at school. He'd felt ashamed by his attitude and had offered the kid an apology. The boy had looked stunned that the popular athlete who had all the girls drooling over him was offering an apology to a scrawny kid without any muscle on him.

"It's okay, Ada… I already said it was," he stated casually. He didn't want to hear her struggle over offering him an apology. He would like one, sure, but it wasn't worth making her uncomfortable over. His mother had taught him better than that. Being a gentleman was probably the only thing his mother had taught him.

"Shut up, would you?" she laughed nervously. "This is already hard to begin with. I don't need you to try and assure me I was right in treating you the way I did." He was stunned into remaining silent this time. Not because he was insulted by her statement but because she obviously really wanted to apologize. "Look… I'm not a nice person… And you are… You're too nice… And that just let's people walk over you, doesn't it?"

"Sometimes…" he admitted softly. He imagined high school, when he hadn't been so nice to people. In fact, he'd been rather mean during high school. He wondered if it was his father or his own thoughts that had caused that rapid change. The only times he was nice was when he realized his mistake and when he was talking with a girl.

"And I did that too…. But that's not how I feel, Leon. I didn't ask you to the dance because I wanted people to be shocked. It looked like that, I know… But that's because…" She didn't finish that sentence. Although she was still standing behind him, he had a feeling she was shaking her head to silence herself. "If I wanted people to be shocked at me because of my date to the dance, I would've chose Elran or Brad Vickers. I chose you because…I do like you. You're one of my few friends here."

Friend… Joy. Leon didn't let himself think that he wouldn't mind being more than her friend. There was a time and place for that kind of comment and in the police station was not it. So, he calmly remained silent. At least, on the outside. On the inside he was asking a billion questions. And teeming with happiness. He didn't know why though.

"So… I'm sorry Leon. I'm sorry I sounded like I was trying to use you and-"

A knock sounded at the door and she shut off quickly. Kevin's voice came through the door, stating, "Everybody's returning. Just thought I'd let you two know that." Leon cringed immediately, knowing what it probably looked like, but Ada's hands gently squeezed his shoulders before she let him go.

"I'll see you at the practice dance, handsome." And with that, she left.


	8. God Forsaken Drug

Duet of the Apocalypse

A/N: So sorry for the lack of updates, guys! My dog got hurt on one of our nightly walks Monday and I've been basically taking care of him night and day. It's taking longer than I thought for his leg to get healthy enough in which I can leave him alone and not worry about him licking the wound. But it's the weekend and everybody is watching over him so I can update real quick (updates might be slow for about the next week). And, just so everybody knows, Leon and Ada's pasts will both be revealed.

Instead of dressing formally, like they would at the actual dance, everybody had agreed to dressing in their street clothes. In other words, jeans and T-shirts instead of dresses and tuxes or whatever the men planned on wearing. So, Ada decided she was going to wear some of her favorite clothes for the occasion.

She'd chosen her fanciest pair of blue jeans, which were a navy blue so dark they seemed black if one didn't look at them properly. They were formfitting, hugging every curve available to them, but loosened up near the ends of the legs because of their boot-cut design. Her knee-high, black, leather boots were her choice of footwear for the night. They had two inch heels on them - most of her fancier shoes did have heels - but were surprisingly comfortable. They were a couple years old and had softened up through the years. And to go along with everything else, she'd chosen a blood red halter top made of a silk-like material.

Ada arrived before almost everyone else, except Irons and Wesker who stood near the goddess statue talking, and felt boredom settling upon her like an old friend. She didn't really feel that awkward, even though she was just leaning up against the railing that sat next to the double doors, because now was her time to soak up where everything was. She wouldn't have trouble navigating to the snack table or the drink table through the night like most would.

There, to the right of the room that served as the office of Leon and several others, was the table that served as the snack table. And across from that, sitting up against the reception counter, was the drink table. Simple, she thought. Though she knew that by the halfway point of the dance, that little area would be so crowded even a mouse wouldn't be able to squeeze through.

"Ada, come over here," Irons suddenly called, making the raven haired woman look up. She frowned slightly at his none-too-subtle attempt to retain power over her but stepped away from her position against the rail. She walked down the stairs, her boots clicking loudly against the marble-like substance that served as the base for them, and walked over to Irons and Wesker.

"There's a problem with the facility," Wesker immediately said, his sunglasses still in place like always. She wanted to punch him in the face and see if the glasses would break or if they were simply indestructible. And, of course, the man had dressed in a simple suit, all black except for the shirt, and looked more dressed up than Irons. The portly man was dressed in an expensive Armani suit that made Ada wonder if he didn't quite realize the practice dance was informal.

Wesker's monotonous voice brought her from her thoughts as he said, "More of the dogs have escaped and our superiors are beginning to think that infected humans might be as well. In fact, more recent murders point to humans infected with the virus escaping rather than it just being the dogs. I'm thinking about taking the S.T.A.R.S. to see what's going on."

"Then leave me out," she said icily. Wesker's only sign of shock was a slight lifting of his left eyebrow. Irons, on the other hand, gaped like a fish out of water that was struggling to breathe. "I don't want to be part of Umbrella's attempt at a cleanup because of their own stupidity." Then, an image of Jon came to mind. She didn't love the man. She didn't even really know him. But she didn't want anything bad to happen to him. She had some respect for him, deep within herself. Then again, maybe it was Leon. Something about the officer had changed the way she thought and her attitude in general.

Wesker must've seen something in her eyes because he suddenly said, "I might not be taking S.T.A.R.S. though. I'm still thinking about it. If the weapons have escaped, it would be a great test for them. We can see just how strong they all are. But there's always the chance of something going wrong. And right now, everything's going just right."

"Is it?" Irons suddenly questioned. Ada doubted that Irons knew about Wesker's true plans. Irons was a man who went with whoever paid him the most and was hardly what a person like Wesker could consider a person worthy of keeping secrets. "Umbrella seems to be a bit unsettled right now. I heard that Spencer was fuming when he heard the dogs had escaped."

Wesker looked at Irons with something close to disinterest before stating, "I meant in general. The murders and the killings should be completely controlled soon enough. And if not…I'll take S.T.A.R.S. into the mansion and clear it out." Ada suddenly felt an odd chill run down her spine, like a child would feel as they stood in the shadows with images of bloody ghosts and ghouls crawling up on them.

"Has the mansion contacted anybody recently?" she calmly questioned, looking between the two men. Irons looked at Wesker curiously and Ada guessed the pudgy man wasn't high enough on Umbrella's personal food chain to have any true contact with the mansion in the first place. She stopped looking at and instead turned her pale eyes to Wesker.

"No," Wesker said his voice sounding empty, as if he had only enough strength to mumble that single word before his vocal cords shattered. The thirty-eight year old man lifted his gaze from her face – though she wasn't certain he wasn't still looking at her thanks to those ridiculous sunglasses – and stared at the double doors. He was expecting guests to arrive.

"No? And you didn't think that little tidbit of information was important enough for us to hear?" she questioned bitterly, not willing to let Wesker's simple answer be the end of the conversation. "There's a chance that the T-Virus is just pouring out-"

The double doors creaked open and in walked the loudest, rowdiest group that was going to be practicing their dancing that night: S.T.A.R.S. As they all entered the station, each of them with a person attached to their side like gum on the bottom of a shoe, Ada subconsciously started searching for Jill and Chris. The conversation with Wesker and Irons was done. There was no way she was going to continue talking to them about Umbrella in front of the S.T.A.R.S. The team had the tendency to be like bloodhounds, sniffing after any tiny leak of information.

"Hey Ada," Chris said, walking up to her. She wasn't even startled by the officer's sudden appearance. She'd noticed him before he'd noticed her, even though she stood away from the crowd. At his side was, shockingly enough, young Rebecca Chambers. She was the medic on Bravo team and had been in the S.T.A.R.S. for around the same length of time as Ada herself.

"Chris," she said seriously, noticing that she was still a little upset by Wesker's lack of mentioning the deficiency of contact from the mansion in the woods. Her green eyes moved away from his face and landed on Rebecca's. The younger woman – girl, really – smiled nervously. "Rebecca."

Rebecca's nervous smile faded for a second before coming back full force. She giggled nervously and said, "I almost forgot that you're a captain… I was shocked that you knew my name." Ada could feel Wesker's eyes boring into her neck. He'd been the one to tell Ada not to call the Bravo team by their names. He himself claimed that he only memorized some of them. Otherwise they'd look suspicious. But as Rebecca had just shown, the Bravo team thought that the captains knew all the names.

"You two should go dance," a familiar voice called. Jill trotted up with a young man walking close to her side. He had floppy brown hair that fell messily into his eyes. Ada recognized him as the man from the picture on Jill's desk. The other woman had been smart. She'd simply asked her 'boyfriend' –nobody truly knew what he was to Jill – to come to the dance instead of finding some ludicrous person.

Ada smiled at her two teammates and excused herself, planning on getting something to drink. As she walked past Irons, who was leaning against the lip of the concrete wall of the fountain, she heard him mumble 'spiked punch' and sighed. Of course, a man like Irons loved his liquor. She doubted he could resist the idea of 'accidentally' dropping a bottle's worth of Vodka into the punch.

For about the next hour, Ada practically drowned herself in punch, which tasted heavily of liquor, as she waited for her own date to show up. She knew that the actual patrol officers of the RPD had been told to arrive later than the S.T.A.R.S. So, why not enjoy herself while she waited for the rookie cop to get there. Besides, being drunk might make things a little more interesting.

She spotted Leon before he noticed her, like always, and felt a smile grow on her lips. What was so amazing about him that she felt less and less like herself as the days went by? Why was he so intoxicating? He could get her drunk faster than any liquor, no matter how potent it was. At least, that's what she felt like sometimes. He was like some God forsaken drug or something.

When the young officer's friends, Ark and Elza, left him to go off on their own, Ada hoped he would notice her. Before she could even think about grabbing his attention, somebody else grabbed hers with a cold, "Wong…"

She turned her head to her right, gazing almost thoughtfully at her boss. Albert Wesker looked oddly disgusted with her, she thought, like she was some kind of insect instead of the deadliest person in the station. Yes, even more deadly than Wesker. "How can I help you, boss-man?" she purred, letting him see that she was inebriated.

Wesker's lips curved downward in disgust and he snarled, "You're intoxicated, aren't you?" She cocked her head at him, a lock of her raven colored hair falling into her eyes. She tried to pull off her most innocent look as they stared at each other. She knew it wasn't working, not really.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something," a familiar, low voice said suddenly. Both she and Wesker looked to her left, where Leon stood near the end of the drink table. She smiled at him, feeling as if her head was no longer attached to her body. She honestly hoped it was the booze doing that to her. Because it couldn't be the attractive, extremely attractive, cop standing near her. No, it wasn't him. Not him, in his black button-up shirt – which was tight enough to show the muscles that lined his upper body - and black jeans and boots. Nope, couldn't be him. Because she was the one who used her looks to grab people's eyes. She wasn't the one whose eye was grabbed by other people's looks.

"You're not," she promised, shooting a warning look at Wesker. The blond man looked at the young officer, who held the steely gaze without backing down, before returning his eyes to Ada. Or at least, she guessed that was what had happened. One couldn't tell with Wesker's eyes being hidden behind sunglasses. The captain took a step around Ada, now standing directly in front of her.

Without caring, Ada turned around to start making herself a new drink. Leon almost looked uncomfortable, realizing that Ada had just opened herself up for attack. She was slightly impressed that the rookie would react the way he did to Wesker standing behind her. Unless he disliked Wesker enough to believe that the man would harm her, Leon's unease was senseless.

"Once you get done playing with your boy toy," Wesker snarled from behind her, his voice low enough that the chatter of the crowd prevented Leon from hearing him, "you're more than welcome to return to actually being useful." Ada's muscles tensed and hatred bubbled to life within her. One thing a person didn't want to do was insult an assassin. And she'd trained herself to react to insults in a certain way.

So, Ada, 'drunk and unsteady,' reacted the way she'd taught herself to react. And it wasn't just for her, she realized as she started to react. It was for Leon too. It was probably more for Leon than it was for herself. Because he wasn't a boy toy. He was…something else.

She spun around, elegantly of course, and delivered a very violent spin kick to the side of Wesker's face.

---

The silence that fell over the crowd of police and their guests might've been comical had it occurred because of somebody else. As Ada stood, her fists clenched at her side so tight her knuckles were a pasty white color, she looked down at Wesker with something akin to hatred. Everybody was shocked into silence, staring at the woman with wide, confused eyes. The RPD's front hall was completely silent. Nobody coughed or sneezed.

As the Eurasian woman's pale green eyes widened with realization, everybody started talking again. Of course, Leon could hear that the conversations were almost all about her and none of them were very nice. He resisted the urge to tell them all to just shut up and walked carefully up to Ada. If she was still drunk – which she seemed to be thanks to Irons' spiked punch, which he'd gloated about all night long so far - there was a chance she would attack him. He doubted that though.

Chris Redfield, S.T.A.R.S. marksman, walked up and looked down at Wesker with lazy eyes. He was lying on his left side, his back to Leon, and wasn't attempting to get up. The blond captain was either unconscious or was laying there to protect his already wounded ego, Leon couldn't tell. All he knew was the man's sunglasses had been smashed by Ada's boot heel and were laying in piece next to him.

"Rebecca said she'll come and make sure he's going to be okay. We'll take him to the hospital if he's not," Redfield said, though Leon wasn't certain who he was talking to. And the rookie didn't really care.

He stepped closer to Ada and gently took a hold of her forearm, gently mumbling, "Come on, I'll take you home." She looked at him, her green eyes surprisingly clear for a woman who seemed drunk. Horror mixed with other emotions in her eyes and he offered her a, hopefully, assuring smile. She lowered her gaze from his face and started to walk around him. When Leon looked up he noticed that Redfield was watching him. And even though Leon had the urge to ask why he felt it was okay to stare, he simply stated, "I'll make sure she gets home safe."

"Right," Redfield replied, nodding his head. The older officer looked away as the petite Rebecca Chambers walked up. Leon silently hopped that Wesker had a concussion. He'd said something that had pissed Ada off enough to break through her calm exterior and it must've been pretty bad to do that.

The blond officer turned and walked down the ramp, navigating carefully through the crowd of people to make it to the double doors. Ada stood near them, looking oddly meek unlike her usual stance. He didn't like to see that. No doubt what she'd done would get her in trouble but it wasn't like she could necessarily be blamed completely. Alcohol made people do crazy things. Of course, people couldn't really use alcohol as an excuse so…

"Come on," he said gently, opening the left door to let her out. She walked out, her head lowered almost shyly, and he followed her. Instead of parking his Jeep in its usual place, he'd parked it out on the street in front of the RPD to avoid having a difficult time escaping from the party.

She slowed down, letting him walk in front of her so he could lead her to his vehicle. When they made it, he unlocked it and opened the door for her. She climbed in, after shooting him a small smile, and he shut the door with a loud bang. Then he walked around to the driver's side and climbed in. Almost immediately after putting her seatbelt on, he noticed that she'd laid her head on the cool glass of the window.

He started the Jeep up and pulled out onto the street. As the vehicle rumbled softly and raced down the road, he said, "I think I remember your address so-"

"I don't want to go home," she suddenly interrupted, her voice sounding distant. He nearly jumped in his seat but instead glanced over at her in confusion. "Take me to your place, drop me off in the middle of the street, I don't care. I don't want to go home," she said. He noticed that, for a drunk person, she spoke with a strikingly clear voice. He was beginning to doubt that the alcohol had affected her at all.

"Ada…you're drunk and-" he tried.

"I'm not drunk," was her curt reply. She finally lifted her head from the window and looked at him. "Please… Just don't take me home." She looked away from him again and pressed her head to the glass. He wondered what was so bad about home that she didn't want to go there after spin kicking her boss. But he wasn't about to ask her. He wouldn't try to get her to reveal that kind of information to him.

"Okay…" he said softly. He would just take her home with him. And if she wanted, he wouldn't talk to her the entire night. He'd give her complete and utter privacy. Honestly, the young officer knew that was exactly what he would've wanted had he just kicked his commanding officer in the face because of something.

Speaking of which, Leon couldn't help but wonder what Wesker had said to upset her so badly. According to everybody Leon had met throughout his short time being in the RPD, nobody had ever seen Ada snap. If she was angry, she was one of those people who had that creepy calm angry thing going on. She could speak softly and still make chills run up and down a person's spine. But this time she'd actually reacted physically.

They arrived at his apartment without any more words being exchanged and he led her silently to his apartment. She was quiet enough that the only way he was certain she was still behind him was the distant click of her boot heels on the concrete. He opened the door to his apartment and let her in. As she walked in, silent and almost phantom-like, he flicked on the overhead lights of the apartment and shut the door. As the Eurasian woman looked around his empty apartment, he locked the front door and dropped his keys onto the coffee table.

"Make yourself at home," he said gently, noticing the way her shoulders tensed at his voice. He finally had the time to actually look at her, in her black and red clothing. Her back was bare thanks to the design of the shirt she'd chosen, showing off pale skin that obviously wasn't often left in the sun for very long. With how pale she was in comparison to her clothes, Leon imagined she looked exactly like some kind of ghost.

She nodded faintly, which he noticed made the ends of her hair brushing the back of her neck, but didn't really move. He didn't think she wanted to move. Maybe she was shy. Then, the cop shook his head. She wasn't shy. She wasn't the type of woman to be shy. At least, not that he'd seen. Of course, he wasn't really certain he'd seen much of her. It wasn't like he knew that much about her.

He was about to tell her that she could have his bed, and he would take the couch, when she turned around and asked, "Can we just talk?" The question caught him off guard. Leon was pretty certain he would've done a double take like in a cartoon had she been somebody else. But her voice, that velvety voice, made it all too serious, not cartoon like at all.

"Uh… Yeah, of course," he said. What else could he say? No? That would've made him worse than his father and he wasn't about to sink that low. Besides, the look on her face was just tugging on his heartstrings. No, not tugging. Pulling, tearing, yanking. Any of the harsher sounding words. But not tugging. Ada didn't tug. Strong women like her didn't tug.

She nodded faintly at his agreement and walked over to his couch. She sat down, almost delicately like she feared she would break the old piece of furniture, and sat leaning slightly forward. Her elbows rested on her thighs and her hands, palms up, hung off of her knees. She seemed to be looking into her hands and he imagined there was something going on in her mind that he wouldn't understand.

Without even considering joining her on the couch, Leon leaned up against the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room. He folded his arms lazily across his chest and wondered if he should start the conversation or if she planned on doing it. She kept her head lowered, black locks of hair falling out of place and shielding her face from the overhead lights. Swallowing nervously, uncertain what he should do, Leon glanced at his watch on his left wrist. It was an old Rolex, a gift from an uncle, and it had a nasty crack running down the face from when-

"Can I tell you a story?" she suddenly asked. He jerked his head up, forgetting about the time, and looked at her. She didn't raise her head but he had a funny feeling she was watching him anyway. Her hair was shielding her eyes from being seen, not from seeing. So, he nodded. "Okay… This is just that…a story…nothing more, okay?" He nodded again, knowing it was more than a story. "You know how a lot of stories have parents that neglect their children?"

"The ones where the parents always end up redeeming themselves and they all have their big, happily ever after?" he asked bitterly. Those were the kinds of stories the majority of his family had loved. Only he and his sister had seen the truth behind them, the lie. Neglectful parents didn't always learn their lessons. They didn't always make their children happy.

"Yeah… Those are wrong, you know…" That last sentence wasn't a question. He guessed she could tell from his tone of voice that he didn't believe those stories were right. "…This story is about a little girl… She lived all over the continental United States. Her family liked to travel… Okay, that's not true. Their jobs made them travel. Maybe they liked traveling but the girl didn't. You know kids…"

"They don't like being uprooted from their familiar surroundings," he said immediately, repeating a comment made by his grandfather. His maternal grandparents had done that, constantly moving their family across the East Coast. His mother had always hated her parents because of it and his grandfather had explained why with that simple comment.

Ada laughed softly and nodded. "Right. I'm guessing you've heard that." She didn't wait for him to nod and he didn't bother moving his head at all either. "Well, this girl's parents weren't the greatest people in the world, even before she was a thought. Her father was a Chinese man who married her mother simply to get a free pass into America to join a certain…group so to speak. He hated everybody, no matter race or gender, and hated his wife. And his wife was no better. She simply married him to get his family fortune. And then the little girl came along and they found common ground… Hatred for the little girl.

"So, as she grew up, they treated her terribly. They killed her pets in front of her." He gaped at her suddenly, unable to control his shock. He could imagine a little girl, who had oddly familiar green eyes, staring wide-eyed at a dead cat or dog, too horrified to cry. "They abused her, didn't really feed her, treated her like she didn't deserve to exist. And she took it all in stride. Why? Who knows. She was little, didn't completely understand what they were doing to her. Like most abused children, she thought that all children were treated like she was…

"Poor thing, right? Well…her parents had an even darker side to them. Her mother was a high-class assassin, working for whichever big company or government that came along. And he was technically a hitman. You know the difference right?" She still wasn't looking right at him but he nodded. Hitmen killed for anybody. Assassins killed for people with international power. "Perfect match, no? Not really. They ended up killing each other."

The bluntness behind her comment startled him but he didn't say anything. "How?" he asked curiously, wondering if she'd actually say. When her shoulders jerked up in a lazy shrug, he guessed she didn't know. And her next comment confirmed such.

"No idea. I'm a terrible story teller. I forget the small facts. Sorry." This time, he shrugged. "Anyway, the little girl was left alone when she was about six. Until a man came along. He was the founder and owner of Raccoon City's own pharmaceutical company. You know him, right? Ozwell E. Spencer…" Now things were getting a little weird, he thought. He had no doubt he could guess who the little girl was, which would explain the distant attitude of the woman she'd become, but what did Spencer have to do with anything? "Spencer took her in…gave her a decent life… The end."

He wanted to ask if that was honestly the end of the story. But then she looked up at him and he didn't care about the story. She looked…odd. Her eyes were locked onto his. But she seemed to be off in her own thoughts at the same time. She was good at multitasking.

When he finally got the courage to speak, he gently said, "Interesting story. Did she really get a happy ending?" She smiled vaguely, almost like she was glad he'd asked that question.

"That's something you have to guess for yourself," she explained coolly. Suddenly, _Ada _was back. She was steady and calm and cool, not uneasy and fearful and drunk. And although most men would find her aloofness annoying, he found it comforting. Because it meant she was okay again. Or at least, okay on the outside.

"You were never drunk, were you?"

"Nope."

He laughed at that. "And you realize you attacked your captain?"

"Yeah."

"And you don't care?"

The smile that flickered across her lips was playful and mysterious at the same time. "Why would I care? He deserved it. I don't really mind being insulted, depending on what I'm being insulted about, but I don't like it when he insults people…I find important enough to defend." Some piece of him hoped that it was him she was talking about.

"You want to continue talking?" he asked, deciding to change the subject. An almost grateful smile found her lips and she nodded. He smiled too and said, "Okay."


	9. Cop Hating Emmy

Duet of the Apocalypse

A/N: Well, my dog is basically all better now. That means updates should be more than once a week from now on. (At least three times a week is my goal.) The chapter after this one is the dance. And this chapter will be kind of short (especially Leon and Chris' parts) because it's just a filler.

The cup of steaming liquid was placed carefully before her, steam oozing into the air from the light tan liquid. Emmy, the 'greasy spoon' restaurant's elderly owner, smiled pleasantly at her customer and cooed, "Here you go dear. Be careful, Bob got the coffee extra hot this morning." The Eurasian woman smiled up at the woman and nodded her head in a common show of gratitude.

Ada wrapped her slender hands around the hot mug and lifted it to her lips. Although she wasn't a big coffee drinker – caffeine had no effect on her – the tantalizing scent had captured her attention as she and her companion had walked in. Emmy's Diner, well recognized and loved by Raccoon City's large population, had caught their interest as they'd started for work. Neither of them had truly eaten and were starting to feel the effects.

"I got a hold of Irons, finally. I told him we're going to be about an hour late. He said that it's fine and we can be as late as we want," Leon said, walking over to the bar. She sat near the alleyway exit in an attempt to avoid sitting next to the others. "See, you kicking Wesker was a good thing."

"I doubt Wesker agrees with that," Ada said casually, looking up at the blond officer. Leon gave her a lopsided smirk in response and sat down next to her. "I didn't order you anything. You can have this if you want." She motioned with the cup, a twitch almost, that he could take the coffee she hadn't even sipped from.

Leon shook his head, the smirk still on his lips, and said, "I'll just get something when…if she comes back." She raised an eyebrow at his statement and he shot her a grin that showed off his white teeth. She felt a smile form on her lips while an odd feeling, like something was wrong with her and she was coming down with a bug, appeared in her stomach. "Who knows, maybe Emmy hates cops."

"Oh really?" Ada laughed. She took a careful sip of the steaming liquid and savored the taste of the coffee. She swallowed, remembering that the bitter aftertaste of coffee was one of the many reasons she didn't like the caffeinated drink. She decided, however, that she could handle the bitter aftertaste throughout the day. "Tim comes here all the time and she obviously likes him and he's a cop."

Leon looked over at her, still smiling, and stated, "It's a ruse. God, I would think you would realize that. She obviously can't stand him. You can see the hatred in her eyes." Ada blinked at Leon while setting her mug on the bar surface. He laughed, something that wasn't uncommon to her anymore thanks to their night of talking, and she rolled her eyes.

"You're just full of conspiracy theories, aren't you?" she asked, looking at him curiously. He gave her an innocent smile which wasn't really all that innocent. "Don't tell me…you think Irons and Wesker are aliens trying to brainwash the RPD's elite into working for them to conquer the city."

He laughed again before asking, "Where in God's name did you hear that one? Or did you come up with it? Because, if you did, then you're worse than me. And that's saying something." She shrugged before lifting her hand and brushing her black hair from her face. She needed to cut the ends of it off again. It had been a while since she'd last given her hair a nice trim.

"I didn't come up with it. I heard it from Chris, actually," she admitted, remembering Chris and Joseph sitting huddled up, chatting about Wesker and Irons' evil plan. "He and Joseph have tons of theories. And the longer I spend with them, the more likely they seem." She thought Leon's smile seemed to fade slightly but she guessed it was a change of light. There wasn't anything in her statement that could've upset him. Not really.

"So… Why don't you do stuff with the other S.T.A.R.S. members? I mean, this bet thing you guys have going on is the only thing I've ever seen you do with them… And I haven't been here that long but… I'd expect a closer relationship between all of you," Leon pointed out suddenly, turning the conversation in a different direction. She took another sip of her coffee, uncertain as to how she should answer that question.

Ada looked over at him and shrugged. "I just don't really like talking to people." That wasn't completely a lie. Ada couldn't remember a time when she'd not been introverted. Sure, she put on a good face. She could make people believe she was the bravest woman alive. But people bothered her. Except Leon… He was different.

And as if he was reading her mind, Leon asked, "What about me? You've spent a lot of time with me." Oddly enough, that simple comment made Ada want to tell him the truth. She could feel her life story building on her tongue, almost like the aftertaste of the coffee was. Courage bubbled to life within her as the urge to tell him – this oddly important and confusingly amazing man – the truth about her life grew stronger and stronger.

But suddenly the yellow apron of Emmy appeared in front of the Eurasian woman and her companion and that courage fled from her body like a frightened animal. "Can I get you anything, sweetheart?" Emmy asked, her elderly face heavily wrinkled from a kindly smile that was aimed down at the officer in blue. Leon was actually in his uniform, though he wasn't wearing a long-sleeved undershirt for once, whereas Ada had chosen to only where her normal civilian clothes.

Leon was seemingly as startled by Emmy's sudden appearance as Ada was because he stammered, "Uh… Uh yeah, um coffee." Emmy's smile somehow widened and she trotted off again to fetch his order. Ada glanced over at her comrade and smirked widely.

"Nervous, rookie?" she teased. Leon rolled his eyes and shrugged his broad shoulders. Ada suddenly noticed things about the officer that she'd never noticed before. His shoulders were broad and she imagined that the muscle that surrounded the bones was extremely strong and taut. She shook her head, almost a little too violently, to shake away those thoughts. She silently questioned what was wrong with her.

"She startled me. I swear she just randomly appeared there," Leon responded, apparently not noticing that the Eurasian woman had been staring at him like he was something to dissect. "Though I guess she doesn't hate cops anymore. Good to see she got over that hatred."

Ada smacked his shoulder playfully while laughing. The young officer chuckled softly, shaking his head. She was still confused as to why this man, who shouldn't mean anything to her, had completely changed her around in the little time they'd known each other. It was like some kind of destiny thing: not-so-nice woman meets goody-two-shoes man, man makes woman change her ways, man and woman live happily ever after. But Ada knew that there was no such thing as happily ever after in the real world. Especially not when it came to her line of work.

---

"Officer Kennedy, may I speak with you for a second?" Chief Irons asked as Leon and Ada walked through the double doors into the front hall. The two looked at the man, who was oddly on the first flood instead of the balcony like one would expect him to be, and gave him confused looks. "Well?"

Ada gently touched Leon's forearm and he glanced down at her. She motioned with her head to go to Irons but he noticed that her pale green eyes were worried. Something was wrong. Something was so wrong that even the typically unfazed Ada was worried. But Leon knew he didn't really get the option to tell Irons no. He was the chief of police, after all, and Leon was just a cop. S.P.F. or not, he was just a lowly cop.

"Okay, sir," Leon said, nodding weakly. He felt Ada's fingers on his arm, her smooth skin resting against his tensed muscles. His fist was clenched tightly; though he wasn't that afraid, he was uncomfortable with speaking to Irons. "I'll see you later?" the blond man said to his female companion. Ada offered him a small smile and nodded before she walked off to head to the S.T.A.R.S. office.

Irons walked over to Leon, who stood stock still like a statue. The portly man looked at Leon like he was merely a pawn, destined to be destroyed by one of the bigger people in the world. Technically, Leon guessed, that basically was his genuine title. He was nothing more than a pawn in the RPD, destined to be cannon fodder, really.

"Look, Kennedy," Leon was startled by the sudden lack of respect, "I don't know what the hell is going on, but you need to stay away from Wong." The harsh tone of Irons voice was startling in its own way. Leon could hear the underlying threat Irons was trying to shove into his rather simple statement.

"We're not-" Leon tried, prepared to say that they were simply friends and that there wasn't anything about S.T.A.R.S. and the RPD officers not allowed to be friends in the 'Giant Book of Rules' that he'd been given.

Irons abruptly shut him off, however, with a hand. He held it, palm towards Leon, in the common sign of 'stop' and successfully silenced the officer. "I don't care, Kennedy. I honestly don't care. You need to stop spending time with her."

Leon wanted to punch the chief. It was an urge like no other, one that was almost strong enough to make him go through with it. Even as chief of police, Irons had no right to try and stop the S.T.A.R.S. officer and the S.P.F. officer from being friends. They were allowed to have a friendly relationship. Hell, Leon remembered Marvin mentioning that all of the officers needed to have a friendly relationship. And yet, here he was, being reprimanded for having a friendly relationship with Ada.

"I-" Leon tried, but again Irons silenced him with an upraised hand. Leon felt an old fury building within him. He didn't like being treated like a child that had just gotten in trouble. He hadn't done anything wrong!

"Just stay away from her, Kennedy. It would be a shame to find out one of Raccoon's finest had to be fired for insubordination," Irons said. With that, he turned and walked away. Leon could feel true hatred growing within him towards the chief.

The Fourth of July dance was coming up. And he was Ada's date. That was practically set in stone. But could he give up his job, no, his _career_, for her?

---

The S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team members sat silently, waiting for Ada to arrive, while watching Wesker. The man's face was blotched with a purple and black bruise, showing just how hard Ada had hit him the night before. The hospital had told Chris and Rebecca – who'd taken him there – that only Wesker's pride had been hurt. Chris had been slightly startled by the doctor's attitude towards Wesker. The two men had almost seemed to glare at each other.

When the door opened suddenly, every head but Wesker's jerked in the direction of it. Ada, dressed as a civilian in a black T-shirt and black jeans, stepped into the room and seemed to frown at the immense amount of attention being aimed towards her. For the first time since she'd joined S.T.A.R.S., Chris thought she looked caught off guard.

"What, is this the first time you've ever seen me or something?" she snapped, her voice laced with anger. Chris noticed that Brad and Joseph instantly jerked their heads forward and returned to work, while Barry and Jill lazily returned tot their work. Chris himself continued to watch Ada. She glanced at him and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Everything okay, captain?" Chris asked coolly. She gave him a curt nod, obviously not in the mood to speak to any of them. So, Chris returned to his work. But he noticed, silently, that Wesker hadn't even lifted his head to acknowledge Ada. The green clad officer had a funny feeling that things were only going to get worse between all of them.


	10. So Much More

Duet of the Apocalypse

A/N: We finally make it to the chapter everybody's been waiting for. I spent a lot of time on this chapter trying to make sure everything was all good. And because it was extremely long at first, I decided to split it into two chapters. (I don't like long chapters…) I hope it turned out decent, at least.

Ada stood before the bathroom mirror, looking herself up and down in a way that most would deem self-conscious. She was typically very assured of herself and her appearance of course. But, for some odd reason, as she prepared to walk outside for the dance, she felt extremely uncomfortable. Maybe it was because ever since the morning she and Leon had gone to the café, he'd been oddly distant. But instead of blaming the young officer, the Eurasian woman blamed Irons.

Irons was the one, after all, who spoke to Leon the day he stopped really talking to her. She had at first thought that it was Leon himself who was being distant but the more she thought about it, the more she leaned towards Irons being the one who told Leon to leave her alone. And the mere idea that Irons was trying to separate them made her angrier than she'd been in a long time.

Ada shook her head, clearing her mind of those infuriating thoughts. Tonight was a night to escape from reality. It was a stupid dance that had no true reason, at least not one that Irons had told them all about. In fact, the more she thought about it, the less necessary the dance seemed. If anything, it seemed like it was an attempt to get the police off the streets. That didn't seem very intelligent, considering the recent murders that were occurring.

"God, I can't just keep myself focused on one thing, can I?" she asked her image bitterly, running a hand through her short hair. Her hair looked the exact same as always, as she hadn't found a reason to change it. Besides, her hair was too short to curl or put up. It was pointless to try.

"Ada?" a familiar voice called. She turned and saw Jill walk in who was clad in a blue silk dress that hugged her figure until it reached her knees, where it bloomed out and was looser than the rest of the dress. The blue of the dress was a pale color that almost matched its wearer's eyes.

"Yeah?" she asked, smiling at the other woman. Jill, along with the rest of the S.T.A.R.S. and a couple other officers, had arrived early to help with the preparation of the whole dance. The last time Ada had been in the front hall of the police department, the men had been draping a massive American flag on the second floor balcony so that it was suspended before the emergency ladder but didn't block quick access to the reception area.

"I like your dress," Jill said quickly, the customary comment sliding off her tongue easily enough. Ada nodded her thanks but didn't say anything in return. Jill obviously wanted something. "I was just wondering… Could we perhaps change the bet a little?"

"How so?" Ada asked, turning back tot eh mirror. She checked the light layer of makeup that was on her face, assuring herself that every dab of color was in place and proper. Jill was suddenly at her side, doing the same thing. The brunette had lipstick and faint eye shadow on among other light makeup, going for a more natural look like her female captain was.

"Well… I was wondering if we could…dance with whoever we wanted," Jill said, running one finger underneath her eye. Ada almost cringed, remembering one of the reasons she didn't like using makeup. For some reason, no matter how careful she was, she ended up with getting some of the stuff in her eyes. And that was annoying.

"That's not really changing dates. As long as yours agrees, I don't see why not," she replied calmly. And then she decided to do something she'd never truly done. She was going to be girly. "Why? Is Chris looking better than you expected?"

Through the layer of pink rouge, Jill's cheeks burned red suddenly. "Is it that obvious?" she asked, looking at the other woman. Ada's lips curved into a smile, the simple gesture answering Jill's question. "But I was always so careful. I always made sure not to show it…"

"You can hide things from everybody but me. I was taught to watch for the little things," Ada explained, backing away from the mirror. She ran her hand through her hair again, the silky locks sliding through her fingers easily. Nerves were starting to kick in again and she was really beginning to hate the constantly nervous feeling she was getting. She wasn't supposed to be nervous. She wasn't even supposed to know what nervous was.

"Can you hide your own feelings from yourself?" Jill suddenly asked. Ada glanced at her, almost startled at the brunette's sudden statement. Jill turned to face her, giving the other S.T.A.R.S. officer a smirk that spoke of knowledge beyond what Ada expected. "Come on, Ada. The men may be blind to it, they usually are, but I'm not. You really like that rookie. But then again, I guess he's not really a rookie is he? Not anymore."

Ada looked away. Those words, so blunt and obvious, made her worried. No wonder Irons had probably told him not to talk to her. He wasn't about to have his position in Umbrella threatened, like Wesker wasn't about to have his plans ruined, and she wasn't willing to lose all of the power and money she'd gained throughout the years.

"Is it that bad of a thing?" Jill asked, watching Ada curiously with a hint of unease in her pale eyes. The Eurasian woman looked up, remembering that the S.T.A.R.S. were trained to look for the little things, the little discomforts in people's eyes that gave them away as having something they were hiding. They were good at stopping terrorists before they even started by these tactics. Terrorists had a tendency of showing unease in their eyes when they were about to do something. But Ada was no measly terrorist. No cop was going to find her out.

"Only if you count how upset that makes Wesker. Remember, S.T.A.R.S. are the elite. We're not supposed to interact with the so-called lesser cops," Ada lied steadily. It slid off her tongue as easily as ever. It was too easy to lie. The time she'd spent without Leon at her side, with his calm smile and his optimistic attitude, had given her much colder side more strength.

Jill laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I forgot that Captain Asshole has so many problems with S.T.A.R.S. and the RPD officers interacting. God forbid he open his arms a little bit and accept some love from our lesser friends."

Ada nodded in agreement before thinking back to the fact that Wesker had successfully ignored her ever since she'd kicked him. Chris had said, several times actually, that Wesker's ego had been so badly damaged by Ada's attack that he'd lost the ability to speak. Ada didn't mind really. Wesker not speaking was rather nice.

"I guess we ought to go out there now, huh?" Jill asked, motioning for the door. Ada sighed and nodded. The night had only begun and already things were difficult. She feared going out there and spending the entire night alone. If Irons had threatened Leon's job, there was no doubt in her mind that he wouldn't dare go near her. And she didn't blame him. Nobody deserved to lose their job because of her.

But that didn't stop the fact that the idea of being rejected hurt. Badly.

"We were wondering if you two got lost!" Barry called from the second story balcony as Jill and Ada walked out. They had been in the room to the left of the goddess statue and as they walked out, every man that was helping with the flag could see them. Of course, every single S.T.A.R.S. officer gaped at their two female companions, who'd never dressed up around any of them.

"They're women Barry, cut them some slack," Chris said bravely. The man was dressed in a nice black tuxedo and his hair was slicked back in a way that was eerily reminiscent of Wesker's hair. Ada noticed Jill move out of the corner of her eye, in reaction to Chris' comment, and she folded her arms across her chest. The brunette was no doubt giving Chris a look of death and Ada wanted to laugh. Until she heard a new voice, one that didn't belong with the S.T.A.R.S.

"You're brave Redfield," Leon laughed as he helped tie one corner of the flag to the balcony rail alongside his fellow S.P.F. officer Kevin. Ada stared at him in shock, barely recognizing him thanks to his change in appearance.

His hair was still the same, falling into his face messily like always. But he was dressed in a tux that lacked a bowtie. The jacket was buttoned up most of the way, leaving a small triangle of white visible like the rest of the men in tuxes but because of the lack of a bowtie, the dress shirt was open. Underneath the open dress shirt, a white undershirt was visible. She silently noticed that the lack of the bowtie gave him a more rugged than formal look. And she liked the rugged look on him. She really liked it.

"Brave? More like stupid," Joseph laughed. He, along with every other man, was wearing a tux. But Joseph was the only one who'd decided to wear a blue one instead of black. Ada admitted that blue, for some reason, suited him better than black. It would've probably suited him even better had Frost taken off his ever present bandana but he hadn't. The red stood out among the sea of black and white.

"Yeah," Barry laughed suddenly, the booming baritone of his laugh rumbling over the lighter laughs of his fellow police. "Even I'm not that stupid, Redfield. And Kathy's pretty lenient on me." Ada rolled her eyes at the men when the double doors swung open. People, women in colorful dresses looking like bright fish among a sea of black and white, poured into the front hall.

And somewhere, in the back of her mind, Ada had the worst feeling that something was going to go wrong that night.

---

The flag finally decided to stay in place and Leon, along with the rest of the men, released the silky material that made up the red, white, and blue flag. Kevin said something about the flag being a bitch to put up with, causing the rest of the men to laugh raucously, but Leon was too busy searching the crowd for Ada.

The young officer had spent the time since Irons' threat hating himself and hating the chief. He'd feared losing his job over losing his friend and had spent the weeks avoiding her. And it had proven to be one of the hardest things he'd had to do. Something seemed to connect him and Ada in a way. He'd wanted to talk to her or even just simply walk around with her. But he'd stayed away instead, becoming more of a recluse than he'd ever been as a teenager, when people expected him to become one.

But as the night of the dance had approached, Leon decided that Irons' threat meant nothing. If Irons truly went through with the threat, he could always go to Stoneville and find a job there. He'd agreed to go as Ada's date and damn it that's what he was going to do. Besides, he didn't want Ada to go on thinking he suddenly hated her for no reason.

The young officer, with the S.T.A.R.S. and Kevin, walked downstairs. They weren't allowed to activate the emergency ladder so they'd ended up actually having to walk all the way through the library, past the S.T.A.R.S. room, down the stairs and out past Leon's desk. All the while, Chris and Kevin had been complaining about the lack of stairs from the balcony to the first floor while the rest held stupid little conversations.

As they made it into the front hall, Leon feared he wouldn't be able to find the woman he needed to apologize to. He'd seen her out of the corner of his eye while he'd been helping tie the flag up and had noticed she was clad in red while Jill was in blue. And there were at least ten women in his immediate line of sight that were in red dresses.

"Later kid," Kevin called, waving to Leon as he walked away. The younger officer nodded at him but didn't speak. There was no point. Kevin knew who he was looking for. No doubt every S.T.A.R.S. officer knew who he was looking for. After all, he'd been the one to take her home after she'd attacked Wesker.

Leon was about to head over to the snacks set up on the reception counter, when a voice he knew all too well purred, "Looking for somebody, handsome?" He turned around to face her and he felt his eyes widen before he regained control over himself. To say the least, she looked stunning.

She was clad in a crimson gown that might've been described as blood red. It was a stark contrast to her usual black style of clothing. It was an odd design, with the top looking normal and the bottom looking unusual. The top looked like a tank top would, the slender straps two crimson lines on her creamy skin. But the skirt of the dress was different. The back of the skirt was long, almost brushing her ankles. But then the material formed a U shape, becoming shorter towards the front of the dress until the material went up to her knees and left her legs free. Two black stiletto high heels finished off her attire.

"Going to stare all night, rookie? If so, let's go somewhere a little less active," she offered, walking past him and down the ramp. He swallowed thickly as she brushed past him, the crimson material brushing the coarse fabric of his black pants, and felt his face heat up almost immediately. But he followed her, walking behind her until he could catch up to her. She moved with a grace he'd only ever seen his mother's cat walk with, her body almost liquid as she walked. And the fluttering material of her dress didn't help with that illusion at all.

They stopped in the corner formed by the lifted platform that led to the double doors, almost completely isolated from everybody else. Leon then noticed that soft music was pouring into the large hall from the speakers Chris had set up hours ago. He recognized it as some patriotic song, the kind of music his grandfather used to listen to.

"Look," Ada suddenly said, her voice laced with laughter. She motioned towards the goddess statue, where Wesker stood with a woman he didn't recognize. But the mere fact that Wesker apparently had a social life was pretty humorous. "You don't know her, do you?" his companion suddenly asked. He shook his head and she smirked. "That's Alyssa Ashcroft of the Raccoon Times. She'd a super reporter, so I've heard. You think she blackmailed Wesker into bringing her here?"

Leon grinned and said, "Of course. She probably saw this as an opportunity to get into the RPD without having to worry about being tackled by somebody." Ada laughed lightly before her eyes left Wesker and headed towards everybody else. He noticed that she seemed to take in every little detail before her eyes returned to his. It was weird but he guessed it was because she was a S.T.A.R.S. officer.

"So…" she said, apparently trying to start a conversation. And Leon realized it was time for him to apologize. It wouldn't be that hard. Simply a quick explanation on what Irons said he would do if they spent time together. Of course, he would probably stumble over his words anyway. He always did.

"…Irons told me that if I spent any time with you, he'd kick me out of the RPD," he started, trying to sound as apologetic as possible. Her pale eyes gazed at him curiously and he couldn't help but think about how attractive she was. Everything about her was amazing. "And I was afraid of losing my job this early… Of…" Proving my parents right, he silently finished. But he didn't say it aloud.

"Of what?" she asked. He looked away from her, suddenly unable to hold her eyes. He remembered back to that night, when she'd told him a 'story.' Maybe it was his turn to get the weight off his chest that had been there since his childhood. But not during the dance.

"…I'll tell you later, okay?" he asked. He'd just have to tell her when they walked out to their vehicles, he guessed. Because he wasn't about to tell her here. He lifted his eyes back to hers and noticed that she gave him a slightly understanding look and nodded in acceptance of his response.

"I can handle that. And Leon…don't worry. I guessed that's what had happened anyway, considering you stopped talking to me after Irons suddenly decided to have a chat with you. But…what about tonight?" He looked away again, thinking about the consequences.

"I don't really care if I lose this job," he finally said. "I'd rather lose it than lose you." Shit. He almost regretted saying those words because of the shocked look that went across her face. She obviously hadn't been expecting him to say that and he feared that she'd want to leave now. But she didn't. Instead, the shock faded and a smile flickered across her lips.

She seemed like she was about to say something when Irons, who'd managed to hook up a microphone, suddenly boomed, "Ladies and gentlemen, if I could please have your attention." Ada frowned but he just shrugged and looked towards the chief, who stood with Wesker near the statue. "As you all know, tonight is the Fourth of July dance. Later, we'll be having fireworks launched off of the roof and if you'd like to see those, go outside at about ten o'clock. But for now, for all of those couples out there, we'll play a softer song."

Some romance song Leon didn't recognize spilled out of the speakers and the lights suddenly dimmed. The blond officer hadn't even realized that they had the ability to dim the station's lights and he looked up in shock. But then Ada caught his attention by grabbing his wrist, right where the jacket sleeve came to an end.

"Care to dance?" she asked. He stared at her in shock, his brain replaying Irons' 'for all those _couples _out there' statement over and over. But he was her date. Of course they had to dance. Otherwise they wouldn't really be dating at all. So he nodded.

To his surprise she stepped incredibly close to him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. He recognized this as something his parents had done once. They'd stood in embrace and swayed, rather than danced. He guessed that was what Ada wanted to do. So, he wrapped his arms around her slender waist and held her to him. As they swayed/danced to the music, he couldn't help but enjoy the proximity to her. Her head rested on his shoulder, her face turned towards the crowd. He felt her hands on his back, above his shoulder blades, and his knees almost turn to jelly when her right hand reached up and started messing with the collar of his jacket.

And although Leon knew they were just friends, he couldn't help but feel that at this moment – if only for this brief moment – they were so much more.


	11. The Not So Great Finale

Duet of the Apocalypse

A/N: I plan on this story having maybe four or so chapters left. So, I hope everybody enjoys the last couple chapters. And remember, this story is AU so there's a change in the order of events and things will be changed slightly.

Fireworks exploded in a shower of color, lighting up the black sky in bright flashes of blues and reds and yellows. They originated from the roof, shot off by several men from the RPD including Kevin Ryman. The officers watching the fireworks cheered happily at each explosion, whooping and hollering as the rockets shot into the air with a whistle.

"Kevin finally found his calling," Leon teased as he and Ada stood against his Jeep, watching the fireworks. The vehicle was, like at the practice dance, parked in front of the RPD and had proved to be one of the better spots to watch the fireworks. That way, they didn't have to tilt their heads all the way back to see the explosions.

Ada looked at the young officer as his handsome face was lit up by a blue firework, a smirk forming on her lips with the right corner of her mouth curving upwards slightly. "Are you saying Ryman's not a good officer of the law, Mr. Kennedy?" His eyes widened theatrically and he gave her an appalled look, as if he'd never consider such a thing. "Because that's what it sounds like."

"I am offended," Leon said, looking away from her in mock anger. "I would never say that about a fine officer like Kevin. You, Ada, are a cruel woman." She rolled her eyes and was about to retort when Leon said, "Oh wait, I think this is the finale." She lifted her head as several shrieking rockets were shot into the night air.

"Already? I would've thought they'd drag it out a little more with how-"

"Ada!" Irons called suddenly, making them both jump. They looked at each other and Ada thought that the scene might've been comical, with both of them giving each other the lifted eyebrow look of confusion, but then she looked at the red faced Irons and realized it wasn't very funny at all.

"What?" she asked as the chief stormed over to her. She was willing to protect Leon from Irons' rage. If the chief dared threaten the blond officer, she'd make him pay. But then the sky erupted into light and she saw that although his face was red, Irons wasn't mad. He was afraid. His eyes were wide, showing more white than usual. She bitterly noticed that the man looked like a frightened animal.

"We need to talk. Us. I mean, you and me and Wesker. Now," he ordered, his voice betraying his fear. He was practically blathering, making no sense, and his voice quaked with fear. But she heard Wesker's name and that was enough. Something was happening. Something very bad.

"Okay," she said, nodding her head. Her black hair fell into her face messily and she brushed it away from her eyes as she turned back to Leon. The officer looked as confused as she felt but he lowered his eyes from staring at Irons to look at her. She distantly noted that Leon was right and they'd reached the finale. Several consecutive explosions filled the air, coming faster and more frequently as the seconds passed. "I'll be right back, okay? I just have to see what they want."

"Yeah, no problem," he said casually. But she saw the look on his face. It was a problem though he obviously didn't want to admit that. She knew he wanted her to stay and although she really wanted to stay with him, she had to see what was upsetting Irons badly enough to call a meeting with her and Wesker.

She gave Leon one last smile before walking to Irons. The portly man moved as soon as she was a foot away from him and started navigating back towards the RPD's double doors. They navigated through the sea of police officers and their dates, Ada moving carefully around the people who came to close to her. Her dress swirled around her legs as she followed Irons, dodging people as they shifted and moved while the rockets started to slow down.

Irons shoved the doors open to the RPD and they both walked in. Ada cast a careful look over her shoulder to make sure the huge oak doors closed and almost looked for Leon, even though the path back to him and his Jeep was covered by people. She sighed and shook her head as the doors swung shut. That man was somehow tearing down the walls she'd carefully placed around her heart. And she didn't understand why.

Wesker's voice dragged her from her thoughts as he calmly spoke into a phone. The man stood, dressed in an all black suit, and looked extremely uncomfortable. "Relax William. Nothing more can… No, you need to… I understand that the situation is dire but… William… The virus won't escape the woods, I can assure that. No, you need… William, listen to me." Wesker's voice was hard suddenly, dangerous. It took on a tone that was almost cruel. "You need to calm down. The government doesn't know anything and as long as you stay calm, they will never know anything but… Would you please stop cutting… No, don't send her… William. Stop. Will…"

"What's going on?" Ada asked finally, looking over at Irons. The portly man was shaking, she noticed. His pudgy hands quivered with fear and his mustache twitched as he moved his upper lip. She considered waving a hand in his face but Wesker hung up suddenly and she dropped the idea. "Problems?"

"The virus has escaped. William Birkin says that the virus has reached the city and he's going to call the government. We can't let that happen," Wesker said, looking pointedly at Ada. The Eurasian woman cocked her head and let her green eyes latch onto Wesker's, through the sunglasses. An eerie smile appeared on Wesker's lips. "Lucky for you, Miss Wong, Umbrella is handling it."

"What are they going to do?" Irons suddenly squeaked, sounding horrified at the idea of something happening to Birkin. Ada knew a few things about Birkin. He was the smartest scientist to ever make it into Umbrella, now that that blonde brat Alexia was dead, and he'd entered a field of research on a new virus called the G-Virus. She didn't know much about the virus, other than its name, and that Birkin was very protective of it. Wesker and Birkin were friends and in fact the former was the godfather of the latter's daughter.

And Ada also knew something even Wesker didn't. Birkin and Irons had been in touch several times. Irons, after all, followed the money. And where there was viral research, there was money. She didn't know what exactly the two had talked about but she'd seen the letters sent between the two speaking of the G-Virus.

"They're going to send in a team designed to handle this kind of thing," Wesker replied bluntly. Ada, not for the first time, was disgusted at Wesker's attitude. Birkin was one of his only friends, if not his only friend, and yet he didn't care that Umbrella was sending in a team to probably kill the man? Even she wasn't that coldhearted. At least, she wasn't that coldhearted all the time. She had her warm moments.

"U.S.S.?" Ada asked. The Umbrella Security Service was rather legendary among the lesser agents of the corporation. If anybody was being sent in to deal with something, it would be them. Led by Mr. Death, or HUNK, they wouldn't' fail. HUNK had gotten his name because of his ability to live through anything.

"Yes. They're going to go in, take a sample of the G-Virus, and probably kill Birkin. If he is indeed planning on turning over Umbrella to the government, he has to be killed. He told his daughter to come here through the sewers. Ada… I'd like you to fetch the child." He looked at the Eurasian woman with something close to humor. He knew she wasn't really fond of children.

"And if I refuse?" she asked bitterly. The little girl probably wouldn't make it through the sewers, as cruel as that was, and she was not about to go on a wild goose chase just to find out the girl had been killed or had drowned. Of course, Ada didn't really want to come into contact with any of the things that had been created by the released virus if it was actually true that the T-Virus had escaped.

Wesker's lips curved into a bitter scowl and Ada regretted not bringing a gun with her. The dress hadn't exactly been disguised for hiding weapons and she hadn't bothered bringing one. She hadn't exactly expected the virus leaking at the dance, anyway.

And that's when reality hit. And Irons said, "We have to evacuate immediately!" For once, Ada felt something akin to respect for the pudgy man. As horrible as he was, having two rape charges under his belt among other things, he was still the chief of police and still wanted to save his people.

And Wesker said exactly what she would expect him to say in response. "No. The chance that the virus is spreading through the citizens already makes it impossible for such to occur. We can_not _have the T-Virus escaping." Ada shook her head in disbelief at the man.

"We can't let this city die because of Umbrella's stupidity. They were the ones screwing around with the viruses. Don't make Raccoon City pay for their mistakes," Ada snapped. Wesker and Irons both shot her looks of surprise. "Yes, I actually care about this city. And we can't let those people out there pay the ultimate price." Wesker's hand fell to his beltline and he might've grabbed his gun had the door that led to Leon's office not suddenly burst open. Kevin and two other officers walked down the ramps to the three standing below.

"Chief, there are calls coming in like mad," Kevin said, motioning towards the room they'd come from. "People are panicking and talking about murders all over the damned city. Cannibals or some shit. …I thought somebody was going to be left on phones for the night." Irons cringed, apparently having forgotten to do such.

"I uh…"

"Get everybody out there," Wesker suddenly barked. "Assemble all of the teams. Find out what's going on." Kevin looked at the S.T.A.R.S. captain in confusion but nodded before taking off for the double doors. Ada looked at Wesker in confusion. Why was he making the officers go? He damn well knew they'd stand no chance. The captain met her eyes and he icily stated, "I was supposed to take the S.T.A.R.S. in to get research on the virus, to see how well the creations could stand against trained men and women. Umbrella was going to use the most out of the mistake that occurred there. Now I'll just have to use the city."

---

Leon was shocked when the entire crowd suddenly started rushing back into the building. Confusion rippled over the crowd of the remaining civilians, who'd been practically abandoned by their police dates. Leon was one of the few officers who hadn't rushed forward when Kevin had called out about murders or something like that. He wanted to make sure Ada was okay.

But as he looked towards the RPD's double doors, a sense of worry rushed through him. The officers were all crowding through, almost pushing against each other to get into the building, and looked like they were all panicking. Leon doubted that was a good sign and he looked away again, hoping to catch sight of another officer who'd stayed behind. But the civilians were crowding around the remaining officers and shouting questions, which didn't seem to have any answers.

"Leon!" a familiar voice called. He looked towards the double doors again, spotting Ada as she walked towards him. Her pale green eyes were filled with conflicting emotions that he didn't really like to see. Confusion, fear, hatred. All of those were emotions he'd never seen in the strong woman's eyes. "We need to leave. And I mean, leave the city."

"What?" he asked. She stopped in front of him and he shook his head. "What the hell is going on, Ada?" Leon doubted that things were about to clear up anytime soon. And all of the confusion was beginning to give him a very nasty headache. And when he got headaches, he tended to become very impatient. And with impatience came anger. He doubted Ada would like him suddenly snapping at her.

"I can't explain right now. It's not…safe," she replied, shaking her head. Her hair fell into her face and she didn't even bother to reach up and brush it away. That alone should've convinced him to do as she wished. That alone should've convinced him to get into his Jeep, with her, and get the hell out of Dodge.

But instead, he snapped, "What the hell is going on? You're acting like some…bullshit spy stuff is going on and…I…" He stopped trying to speak and clenched his jaw and fists. And then he lifted his eyes to meet Ada's. He immediately regretted snapping at her. "Look, I'm sorry but…"

"Everything's confusing. I know," she replied bluntly. "And I can't explain anything right here, right now… The spy stuff isn't…so far off, really." He wanted to laugh, almost hoping what she was saying was a joke, but the dead serious look on her face told him otherwise. "Please Leon… You have to trust me…"

"How?" he asked. "How can I trust you? You can't even-"

"Fine!" she snapped, making him jump. "If you don't want to leave the city, let's go to your apartment. Please? Maybe… Let's just relax a little bit and…calm down and gather our wits huh?" The pleading look on her face tugged on his heartstrings and he finally nodded. He couldn't tell her no with the look she was giving him.

"Okay," he said softly. "We'll go to my apartment." He turned 180 degrees and opened the Jeep's passenger side door for her. She walked past him, her dress brushing his pant leg like it had earlier in the night, and she climbed into the vehicle. As she was putting her seatbelt on, he closed the door and headed around for his side of the Jeep.

He climbed in and started the vehicle up when he realized he owed her an explanation. A bitter laugh escaped him as he buckled his seatbelt, deciding that now was better than later to tell her. Though, unlike when she told him her story, he didn't have alcohol as a reason to suddenly tell his life to her. Ada glanced at him in confusion as the Jeep pulled away from the RPD, which still had civilians standing around in confusion in front of it.

"What's so funny?" she asked, her voice steady and calm again. She was again the Ada he recognized, the calm and steady woman who didn't really show emotions. "I can't really find any humor in this situation."

"It's not really funny. I just realized that I have to explain what I was going to say earlier. Remember? When I told you I'd explain later?" He noticed her nod out of the corner of his eye. "Now seems like the best time. Add more chaos to the confusion." He imagined she was scowling by now. She didn't approve of his timing.

"What I was going to say earlier, after that thing about losing my job, was proving my parents right. See, my parents always thought I'd fail at becoming a cop. Which is ironic really because they spent my entire God damned childhood trying to make me into the perfect kid; they'd tried to make me the one who'd go onto college and make them millions afterwards. They'd failed at doing that with my siblings, who are actually pretty decent, so they tried extra hard with me.

"I didn't really get any freedom. They were always telling me what to do, who to talk to. And if I didn't…well, I paid for it in whatever way they thought fit. I ended up being two things in high school, the good guy and the bad guy. I protected the kids that were picked on. And then I'd pick on them. Weird, huh?" His grip on the steering wheel tightened, his knuckles turning white from the gesture.

She was remaining silent, almost as if she wanted to do the same thing he'd done during her story. He'd remained silent until she asked him something or made it seem like he should speak. Was it respect she was showing him? Or was she just keeping quiet because she didn't want to speak.

"My parents tried to turn me into something I couldn't be, something I didn't want to be. Pathetic really. And they failed, miserably, with me. I obviously am not perfect. I became a cop when they wanted me to be something stupid, like a lawyer or a doctor. You know, the money makers?" She was remaining silent, much like he had when she'd told him her life story. "Doesn't really matter anymore. My parents basically disowned me… Girlfriend broke up with me, friends don't really talk to me, and now the city is going insane. Fun."

"Stop the car, Leon," Ada suddenly ordered. He shot her a confused look, wondering if his story had bothered her that badly. But she wouldn't look over at him. He started to form an apology for telling her the story, though he wasn't certain why she would be that upset by it, when she snapped, "Now."

He hit the breaks, almost forgetting they were in the middle of the street, when he noticed for the first time that the once bustling roads were empty. He looked around in confusion, wondering where all the cars had disappeared to. What was going on? He looked to Ada, hoping she wasn't about to get out of the vehicle. If his story had bothered her that much, he would willingly take her home and leave her alone. But he noticed that she simply sat in the passenger's seat, her eyes closed as if she was deep in thought. The officer was beginning to feel overwhelmed.

Then he looked over at him, her green eyes latching onto his. "I think it's time for me to tell you everything… Including what's going on." Although part of him wanted to like that idea, he was still confused and lost and uncomfortable. Then she said something that made his heart stop. "And because I think I'm falling in love with you, I think I should be the one to explain all of this."


	12. Horrifying Truth

Duet of the Apocalypse

A/N: Alright, because this has been mentioned a couple times... No, this story is not going through any of the other videogames (Resident Evil 2 on) because I would inevitably get bored writing the fic/idea. And I don't want to get bored with this. Anyway, this chapter is kind of short. (Well, for this story it's pretty short.) But as it nears the end, I'd let the chapters to be a little more diverse in length instead of the standard six or sevens pages or writing.

"You weren't so far off about the spy stuff," she started gently, making sure to speak before he could respond, while looking out of the window at the barren street. She wasn't surprised that the roads were empty of life. The virus spread faster than a wildfire feeding off of dried foliage. Frighteningly enough, all it took was a scratch or a bite to spread the infection, like old horror movies with terrible monsters moaning for live flesh. No doubt that the few people who managed to survive would forever have nightmares while they tried to sleep. There would be a lot of people encountering insomnia.

"I'll tell you everything I can, everything I know… And you probably won't believe it. But you deserve to hear it."

From the silence that still filled the cabin, Ada guessed that Leon was too shocked by her sudden confession of her feelings to honestly care about what she was going to tell him. And while she herself was still reeling slightly from her bravery and admittance, she had to get the truth out. She hoped it would at least convince him to leave Raccoon City. She could wait and see his reaction later. Besides, she had no doubt that he was going to get overwhelmed from everything she was telling him.

"Spencer didn't give me a happily ever after," she said gently. She could almost hear the old man's proposal back when she was very young. He would give her a happy life if she worked for him. And, being the naïve child, she'd agreed. She'd never questioned Mr. Spencer, who'd offered her a better life.

"He made me into one of the deadliest people around. He took a little girl whose parents were paid killers and transformed her into something that was like them…but was better than them. He paid for martial arts and gun training to make me reach abilities that most people would spend their entire lives trying to reach. I became the top dog in his so-called army. I was the cold-blooded murderer, the assassin who never missed, the spy who couldn't be caught…

"And I never once questioned him. I never considered telling the truth about supposedly good natured Ozwell Spencer to the people he tricked. No, the better I got, the more I was paid. And Leon…money has power. Even you know that." She glanced over at him as he bowed his head slightly, almost like he was shamed for some reason. She continued:

"He gave me hits almost every month and I became what most people would call rich. I have three different banks accounts, each of which has over three million dollars in them." The officer's head jerked up and he gave her a wide eyed look. She returned the shocked look with a bitter smile. "But I fell into the temptation that most do. I had money and power. And I wanted more. They were like drugs to me… Drawing me in constantly…

"More recently, Spencer started using my spy abilities. He sent me on covert operations to other companies to spy on them. I had to stop the competition, basically. But I stopped acting as his assassin. And let me tell you, a spy does not get half of the pay an assassin does."

Leon spoke suddenly, startling her. "Really? Aren't they equally as dangerous?" So far, he was seemingly accepting her story. But she noticed that he looked uncomfortable, and his left hand rested on the dashboard where, after her eyes flickered over, she noticed a dull glint of metal. She didn't blame him for not trusting her.

"Yes, but a spy does not have the same fate as an assassin. A spy will typically be interrogated and put in Guantanamo Bay or one of the government's dangerous prisons. An assassin will be tortured and killed. There is no question about it. We assassins are a dangerous breed. We murder for money. We're nastier than hitmen and we're more dangerous than spies. We're bigger threats. So, technically speaking, yes the two are equal in the danger they deal with. But they're not equal in the consequences they will pay…

"But I digress… I was furious that Spencer had spent my entire life training me to be an assassin and then he stopped using those talents. Instead, he started using me as a dog. Sniff out the information, doggie. Bring it back, doggie. Have a treat, doggie. I didn't like. In fact, his treatment of me was disgusting in my eyes… So, when the opportunity presented itself, I joined forces with Wesker.

"You see… Umbrella is not the good little corporation they present themselves as. They…create bioweapons. But not like…virus bombs. No, virally enhanced humans or animals. Monsters." Leon's brow furrowed and she wondered if he'd believe her. "Unbelievable, I know. But I've seen them. And their virus…

"It's called the Tyrant Virus. And it basically regenerates dead cells. In essence, it brings the dead back to life. Or it causes extreme changes in DNA. Once it's injected into the body, it causes mutations… It's very…terrifying.

"But Spencer loved it. And he plans on selling the perfected bioweapons to terrorists and governments world wide. People claim that World War III will be caused by countries getting too much power and will end in nuclear destruction… But I fear Umbrella's T-Virus will be the end of mankind…"

"This is all…" Leon started, before his voice trailed off. She smiled bitterly and looked back out of the window.

"Ridiculous? I know. Trust me, I know. I wouldn't believe it but I've seen the virus and its results. And Wesker… You're probably wondering what he has to do with this." She noticed the blond nod out of the corner of her eye. "He's a researched for Umbrella. But he wants power. He wants more than what Umbrella's willing to offer. So, he made his own agenda. And he offered me a part of it. And I was so furious at Spencer that I agreed. And now I really regret it…

"The murders are because of the virus, Leon. The Spencer Estate in the Arklay Forest…was a research center. There was a lab under it, just like there's a massive laboratory underneath Raccoon City. And the estate's lab had a mistake. An accident or something occurred and the T-Virus escaped. We lost communication with them a while ago. And now the virus has reached the city."

"If this is true, we have to evacuate," he said. She turned to him again, a bitter smirk on her face. "They're not going to evacuate the city?" Ada gently shook her head, closing her eyes momentarily. When she opened them again, Leon looked furious. "They're going to let all of these people die?"

"Wesker was supposed to take S.T.A.R.S. into the mansion to record data on how the bioweapons dealt with an armed team. He couldn't get that information. Well, he's going to get it. Through Raccoon City. If the virus gets to an uncontrollable point, the government will find out. And they'll deal with it," she explained softly.

"Is the government in on this too?" he asked, his voice eerily cold. She shook her head. Honestly, she wasn't certain if the United States government had any knowledge of Raccoon City's labs and the truth behind the Umbrella Corp. But seeing as Birkin wanted to go to them, she guessed they didn't have that much knowledge, if any. "So, why would they act?"

"Eventually they would notice that Raccoon City stopped communicating. And they would take all measures possible once things turned out to be uncontrollable. Or somebody might warn them from inside the city. Who knows. But they'll act. Though our government might not be the most honest, they will protect their people." He nodded faintly. And then she decided it was time to ask. "Now…do you believe me?"

---

"Yes," he said softly. He didn't really hesitate about answering. Leon truly didn't even consider hesitating. But then he added, "But I don't know what to think. I honestly don't Ada… I mean… I…" He stopped speaking suddenly, inhaling deeply and letting his lungs suck up as much oxygen as possible. He exhaled slowly and let his nerves settle. His heart wouldn't slow down, however, beating a mile a minute. But along with her sudden revealing of her feelings for him and her true past, he didn't really expect it to slow down.

"Okay… Here's the deal. Ever since I met you, I knew there was something different about you. You…weren't really a cop. I didn't see a cop in you. I saw…hell… I saw a superhero or something like that in you. You were…perfect. You never faltered or…had imperfections. So…I've always kinda guessed you were more than a cop but… I just… I kinda… Dammit. I…"

"Need time to comprehend everything?" she asked, finishing his sentence easily. He nodded his head, glad that she at least understood. "I can accept that, Leon. And…about your past…" He wanted to tell her not to say anything. But then she softly said, "You're a great cop. And your parents are fools for not thinking you could become a great cop. And about what I said… I-"

"Don't," he said. Her eyes widened with shock and he wanted to laugh. He probably sounded angry but he smiled at her. "Don't take it back… Don't even worry about it. Let's deal with our emotions after we get the hell out of here, huh? Emotions just make things too complicated." He was afraid of talking about emotions right now. He wasn't certain his mind could handle talking about how he felt for her while hearing all of her dark secrets.

She laughed, "I know that all too well, Leon. You don't have to tell me." A smile found its way onto his lips. But still he felt slightly overwhelmed by everything she'd told him and everything that was going on. Umbrella was evil, Ada was a super badass assassin/spy, and Wesker was evil. Spencer too. But Spencer was old. Not much of a threat until it came to courtrooms or things where money was the power.

"Okay… We should get out of this city before it's too late," he offered, turning the conversation back to a more serious matter. She nodded her head in agreement, though he saw unease in her eyes. "…And everybody will… Have to get out on their own I guess."

"You don't think that, do you?" she asked, though it sounded more like a statement. "You want to help them, don't you?" Again, the question was more of a statement than a question. And when he nodded, Ada smiled. "That's something I envy you for, Leon. Your selflessness. You don't think I didn't hear about what you did for that little girl, do you?"

He looked over at her, shocked. During the time he and Ada hadn't really spoken, he'd been sent on several rescue missions. One in particular had been a little four year old girl, who'd gotten stuck on a rusty fire escape after her baseball smashed through the glass window and landed on the metal device. She lived on the third floor of an apartment building and none of her family had been home. Her neighbors had called the police and Leon had been sent in.

After Kevin had broken through the door, Leon had rushed to the window. The child had been in a very dangerous situation. Broken glass surrounded her and the fire escape had been hanging off the wall by two or three screws. As the metal had started to swing away from the window, almost too far to reach, Leon had grabbed the girl's hands, the shattered glass that stuck out of the window frame had dug into his triceps. He'd pulled her in, glass breaking off in his arms, and had carried her down to her awaiting parents. The paramedics who'd pulled the glass from his arms had looked at him like he was insane.

"You're selfless, Leon, and…I'll help you save the others if you want. No doubt most of the officers are dealing with the…murders…and are probably dead, sad to say, but we can get the rest." He felt immensely grateful. There was no doubt in his mind that he would forever be guilty if he left Raccoon City without trying to save some of them. But suddenly Ada's face paled. "The little girl…"

"What?"

"Wesker found out that a researcher he knows sent his twelve year old daughter to the RPD to hide out. Leon…that girl will die if she doesn't get help. We…we have to do something." She looked at him, obviously hoping he'd agree. And he couldn't say no, not to Ada and not about saving a little girl who didn't deserve the fate that was befalling her.

"Okay," he said, gripping the steering wheel. "Let's go be heroes."


	13. Traitors and Protectors

Duet of the Apocalypse

The RPD was in chaos. Civilians walked around, scattered across the front lawn of the building, calling people on phones and trying to contact family. Panic filled the air and as effectively as the virus now plaguing the city was infecting everybody, pulling more and more people into its deadly grasp. Ada almost regretted coming back to save the other officers and the girl.

Leon parked the Jeep in front of the building, his pale eyes landing on the crowd of civilians with something close to sorrow in them. But Ada knew they had a short period of time before things got even further out of hand and she gently reached over and touched his right forearm. But the second her fingertips brushed the coarse material of his jacket, he pulled his arm away. Ada felt like she'd just been slapped.

"Do you have a gun in here?" she asked, trying to act like his movement hadn't hurt her. He nodded and motioned towards the glove box before turning in his seat and reaching into the back of the vehicle. Ada gently opened the glove box and revealed a shimmering, silver gun. A Desert Eagle, she recognized. A .50 caliber handgun that rarely was ever used by officers of the law. It was a gun favored by many crooks or gun owners for its incredible stopping power. And it was indeed a handsomely designed weapon.

Her fingers curled around the grip of the weapon and she pulled it out, ignoring Leon as he continued to rummage around in the back of the Jeep. The gun was heavy and cold to the touch but it was instantly familiar to her. For nearly three months she'd held a gun as an officer of the law and now she was returning to her true profession, as a deadly killer.

But as Leon turned around in his seat, two clips in his right hand, she decided she would not taint Leon's gun by killing people with it. She twirled the gun around, so the muzzle was pointed at her chest, and handed it to him. The young officer's eyes widened but she didn't say anything, her hand stretched to him with the gun resting in it. He took the heavy chunk of metal and slammed a clip into it. He tucked the other clip into the pocket of his jacket.

"You said she's going to be in the sewer?" he asked, looking past her and at the RPD. "Because it's going to be hard to get down there if a bunch of civilians are in there. And it's going to be ever harder if there are still some cops in there." They both knew it was highly unlikely very many officers were still inside the RPD. Most of them were out dealing with the murders.

"If we just move fast, we can probably get in and out within a twenty minute time frame," she responded, picturing the trek down to the RPD's basement and back up. "All we'd really have to worry about is getting stuck in any traffic in-between the front hall and the basement. And since civilians are most likely to be in the front hall only, we'll be pretty good."

He looked past her again and gently asked, "Why are they all outside?" She shot him a confused look, hoping he'd explain. "Look at how many people are outside. It's unlikely that the building was completely filled by the time we got back here from the time we left. That's a difficult feat to achieve."

"You think they're keeping them outside?" she asked softly, worried. That wasn't a particularly good sign. That meant the officers were becoming self-centered and if that happened, that meant the truth behind what the murderers are had been found out by them. Which meant panic was settling into the law enforcers too.

"Possibly… I don't know. Let's just head to the RPD and try and get in, huh?" he offered as he opened the door and climbed out. Ada copied him and glanced over as he slid the barrel of the Desert Eagle in-between his belt and pants. She guessed he was going to use the jacket to cover the gun.

They walked away from the Jeep and started through the crowd. The people moved away slightly but Ada found herself pushing through them more often than they moved out of her way. Leon suddenly reached over and grabbed her wrist, pulling her closer to him. Luckily, his bigger form helped them get to the huge double doors a little easier and they finally made it through the large crowd.

Leon released his grasp on her wrist and reached out to the right door. He opened it and it swung away from them easily. But to their shock, nobody but the S.T.A.R.S. stood in the front hall. The elite team stood together, still dressed for the Fourth of July dance, but looked up the second the duo stepped through the doors. Leon quietly closed the door behind them with his right hand but she noticed that he had his left hand near the hidden gun. Something was quite obviously wrong.

"Look who came back," a familiar voice, with the slightest of British accents, called loudly. Standing at the top of the left ramp was Wesker, his sunglasses in place as always. His suit had been replaced by his tactical S.T.A.R.S. gear and he had the eeriest of smiles on his face. "Ada. And Leon Kennedy, the rookie extraordinaire."

"What's going on?" Leon immediately asked, sounding extremely standoffish. The blond captain cocked his head at the younger officer's question and Ada noticed why Leon sounded the way he did. The S.T.A.R.S., people she considered friends, glared at her with hatred burning fiercely in their eyes.

"What's going on? Well, I'm certain she's already told you a story. But seeing that you two are acting as…hmm…partners, I'll say, I'm guessing she's told you a lie," Wesker stated, walking down the ramp. Ada looked at Leon immediately after Wesker said lie, searching the young man's face. But Leon didn't look at her. He stared at Wesker with a look of contempt in his eyes.

"What did you tell them?" Ada asked, dragging her eyes from Leon's face to look at Wesker again. The captain still smiled in that eerie way. "What lie did you give them now?" She knew what Wesker had done. While she'd been spilling her life secrets to Leon, Wesker had spread a bitter lie about her to the people she'd worked with since May. He'd turned them against her.

"You're a traitor," Chris said, walking away from the rest of the S.T.A.R.S. He had a look of betrayal on his face and Ada tried to say something, tried to tell him she wasn't betraying them, when Chris snapped, "You've been lying to all of us."

Leon grabbed her hand suddenly and she looked at him. He was still watching Wesker but from the way he held her hand, she knew he wasn't going to turn against her even if Wesker tried. And from that, Ada decided she might as well try to tell the S.T.A.R.S. the truth.

"Yes, I have been lying to you," she started, knowing that she didn't have time to tell them the whole truth. "But I'm not a traitor. Wesker is the traitor." Wesker folded his arms over his chest, looking smug, and she wanted to hurt him. "He's working for Umbrella. And for himself. He wants money and power and he was going to use you-"

"How can we trust you, Ada?" Jill suddenly asked, her eyes sorrowful. "You lied to us. You… We were all supposed to be your friends." Leon's grip on her hand tightened and she knew it was their time to leave. The Eurasian woman bowed her head, knowing she was paying a price for being a spy, but didn't try to speak to them any longer.

And apparently Leon realized she wasn't going to speak because he suddenly said, "Okay, you don't trust her. I understand that. But there's a little girl who's in the sewers, coming the RPD, and we're going to save her. If you stop us…you can blame yourselves for her death. If you let us go…we'll leave the city and Ada will never bother you again."

And although she could see the anger and the hurt in their eyes, the S.T.A.R.S. let them go.

---

Tony, the K-9 unit officer, was dead. Leon stared at the dead officer's corpse, its throat having been ripped out by the dogs he'd loved so much. The animals were missing, no longer in their kennel, and only Tony's gore covered body was left. Upon looking at the dead man, Leon noticed the eerie similarities between his dead body and the body in the picture he'd seen all those weeks ago. He remembered saying that the death looked like an animal attack.

Ada gently touched Leon's shoulder and he felt himself tense up. He was still confused about her. He wanted to care for her. Hell, he knew he did care greatly for her. But he was confused. Could he actually be in love with a person whose profession was killing? And if he was, could they have a life together? Or would Raccoon mark the beginning of them going on their separate ways?

Her hand dropped from his shoulder and he regretted tensing up. First he'd pulled away from her in the Jeep and now this. She probably thought he hated her. Or she was confused too, since he'd grabbed her hand while they'd been upstairs dealing with the S.T.A.R.S. In other words, he was not helping out with making things less confusing for the both of them.

"It's moving fast," she said softly. He turned to face her. She must've been talking about the virus that was plaguing the city. "Rats, probably. They're the only thing that could've gotten near the dogs and infected them. We're safe as long as we stay away from them…"

He nodded, silently offering Tony a gentle goodbye, before glancing at the corner where the manhole was. They'd entered the kennel to find the manhole uncovered and then bloody paw prints across the concrete. The door leading to the kennel had been open and Ada had guessed the dogs had rushed off to find more food. The girl, however, was nowhere to be seen.

"Do you think she made it this far?" he finally asked. He hoped so. First of all, he didn't want this to be a wild goose chase. And second of all, he didn't want the little girl to be dead. Besides, the S.T.A.R.S. expected them to leave the RPD with a child in tow, so not finding her would be the death of them. The S.T.A.R.S. would never let a traitor and her 'partner' leave.

"I hope so," Ada admitted. She walked back over to the manhole, glancing down towards the inky blackness of the sewers below. It reeked, of course, but Leon was beginning to not even notice the smell. Of course, maybe it was the smell of decay already radiating off of the dead officer behind him that was masking the sent of raw sewage.

"Maybe… Maybe she went somewhere else in the station. Those sewers lead to a water treatment plant and another area… Maybe she went somewhere over there," Leon offered. Ada turned to face him, her lips parting slightly as she started to say something, before her eyes moved and looked past him and horror danced across her face.

"Move," she ordered. He did as she ordered, walking over to join her, when a gurgling moan filled the air. He turned around, standing by her shoulder, to see what had her so frightened and got a terrifying sight. The dead Tony was slowly pulling himself up, his eyes clouded over so they were a milky blue color, and the moan was coming from him. The word zombie flashed through his mind.

"That's not… Is this what the virus does?" Leon asked, his voice coming out as a whisper even though he felt like shouting. He felt like having a mental breakdown. He felt like running from Raccoon City and going to his brother's house in the country, away from all of the problems of the city. This was too much.

But then Ada's hand touched his and he looked down. Her pale eyes were latched on the now moving Tony but he caught what the touch was trying to say. Calm down. Relax. Now was not the time to panic. He pulled the magnum from its place between his belt and pants and handed it to her. She gave him a somber look, obviously understanding that he couldn't kill his fellow officer, and took the gun.

With practiced movements, she aimed the gun and pulled the trigger. The thunderous sound that accompanied the pulling of the trigger deafened Leon and he cringed but he had to watch as the round, designed for going through armor, make Tony's head explode in a shower of gore. He lowered his gaze as Tony's body collapsed and noticed that Ada had let her arms fall to her side.

As his hearing slowly returned, Leon wanted to apologize to Ada. For pulling away, for tensing up, and probably for something he didn't even really have to apologize to. But then the urge to apologize faded and Ada handed him the heavy gun back. But he shook his head, which she must've noticed even though she hadn't looked up at him.

"I can't… I can't kill these people… I don't know if it's because I'm weak or if I'm just overwhelmed. Either way…if we're in a situation that calls for it, I'd trust you will use the weapon faster than I would. So, keep it," he said. The woman nodded and switched the gun to her left hand. This time, she grabbed his hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

"You're not weak, Leon. You just have a bigger heart than I do," she said softly. He started to shake his head but thought better of it. Leon knew that Ada underestimated how much of a heart she truly had. She loved him, didn't she? That's what she'd said. And it took a decent sized heart to love. Besides, she was trying to save a little girl she didn't know and she'd looked upset by the loss of her S.T.A.R.S. friends. She had a heart. She just didn't know it. Or she didn't want to accept it was there. But Leon wasn't about to argue with her. Not now. Later, he decided. After they'd escaped the city.

"…Should we wait here for the girl a little longer?" he asked, remembering his offer earlier. The ebony haired woman glanced at him thoughtfully and he met her gaze. "I mean…you said the government will step in. But it will probably take a day or so, right?"

She looked thoughtful, stating, "They'll be in by tomorrow. Midmorning probably. So, we can probably afford to wait for her a little longer. Ten minutes or so. Then we'll head down and look around."

He nodded and was about to say something when he heard a sharp gasp. He and Ada both turned and spotted a terrified looking blonde girl dressed in the uniform of the city's best private school. Her eyes, a bright steel blue, flickered between Ada and Leon. She was obviously frightened and Leon felt a little sorry for her.

"Your father is William Birkin, right?" Ada suddenly asked, kneeling down. Her dress bloomed out around her as it hit the ground, making her look like the center of a flower almost. "We were sent down here to get you out of here… My name is Ada Wong and this is Leon Kennedy. We're both police officers. And…um… My boss is Albert Wesker… You know him?"

"Yes," the little girl softly said. "I mean, yes to both questions. My…my name is Sherry. And…" Her eyes filled with tears and Ada, startlingly, opened her eyes in the common gesture of a hug. The girl practically threw herself into the woman's arms and Leon stood steadily nearby, waiting patiently. He wondered, suddenly, how safe they were inside the kennels. There weren't any dogs left but that didn't mean they couldn't come back. Neither Leon or Ada had bothered to close the door behind them.

"It's okay Sherry, we're going to get you out of here," Ada assured, holding the girl who was softly crying into the crook between her neck and shoulder. "We'll protect you, I promise."


	14. Western Showdown

Duet of the Apocalypse

A/N: Another kind of short chapter. The next chapter is the last and is basically an epilogue. I hope everybody likes it. (Even though I'm not really liking the way it's turning out… Oh well, I never do.)

Ada led the way out of the kennels, shooting a cautious glance back towards the jail cells. The dogs had to have gone back there, probably tantalized by the offer of trapped meat, and Ada remembered that the canines retained all of their previous abilities and could smell the humans now walking towards the garage. With only one gun, they were highly unlikely to survive an attack from the undead canines.

Sherry was sandwiched in-between Leon and Ada but she was positioned so she could hold the male officer's hand. The blond looked around, just as cautious as Ada was surprisingly enough, and Ada strode towards the door that led into the garage. It was time to leave this hellhole and it was definitely time to get out of Raccoon City.

The Desert Eagle was aimed immediately at the door with her right hand, while her left hand grabbed the handle and twisted. As the door lazily swung open, people on the other side of it found themselves shocked to see a massive gun aimed at their faces. But as soon as Ada's eyes landed on the familiar faces of the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha and Bravo teams, she lowered her gun.

Sherry and Leon moved slightly, standing partially behind Ada, and the girl positioned herself directly in front of the blond officer. His hands rested on her shoulders, protectively, and the door shut behind them. She could feel the man's left shoulder against her right, tense underneath the jacket.

"Ada…" Jill said coldly, walking to her. Jill's face was hard, lacking any emotions other than anger. The two women faced each other like one would expect to rival lionesses to face each other. But then the brunette's face softened. "We believe you, Ada. All of us."

"What?" the Eurasian woman asked, confused. If they believed her, why had they taken so long to come down here and say such? She could understand why they'd put up the ruse against Wesker, the man was dangerous and could kill quite a few of them before they would stop him. But not so much why they'd taken so long to come down and tell them. They could've used the help.

"We didn't want Wesker to know that we believed you," Barry suddenly stated. "And then he wouldn't let any of us out of his sight until about ten minutes ago. The asshole's…paranoid. But he started to tell us that we needed to help the rest of the RPD in dealing with the murderers. He seems…off."

"He never was very good at dealing with things under pressure. He makes things way too convenient for himself without thinking of the proper way to trick people," she mumbled, remembering Wesker's life as a scientist. He could fight well but that didn't mark him as a true soldier. Not really. Ada frowned at the looks on their faces and shrugged. "Sorry."

Chris shrugged and then said, "We got three choppers that are going to be heading to the roof of the RPD. Barry's family got three other officers out and Jill's friend got Marvin and Rita out. If we're lucky, a couple of the other civilians will be getting others out too. But we all have to get to the roof to meet the helicopters before it's too late." His eyes dropped suddenly and he gently said, "We're all sorry Ada…"

"I don't blame you," Ada replied, walking forward. Leon and Sherry followed her immediately and the black haired woman felt a small hand touch her own. Ada, startlingly, switched the gun to her left hand and took Sherry's hand. She wasn't typically so child friendly. "Nobody should trust me." She looked pointedly at Leon after that statement but the officer didn't return the look. "I'll help you all get out of Raccoon and then I'll leave your lives."

"Alright, let's get the hell out of here," Joseph called. Ada then wondered why all of the S.T.A.R.S. had stayed in the city. They were always called the tight knit team, the ones who wouldn't leave each other. She guessed that statement was true. And that could lead to why they were so willing to come back for her and Leon. That or the little girl gave them a guilt trip.

The now large group headed back upstairs, passing nothing but barren halls and lonely desks. Papers lay abandoned where their owners had once been using them and a couple of the computers glowed quietly, waiting for people to come back and work on them. Ada silently wondered if the officers of the building had returned to their desks to grab personal items before fleeing.

Or had the officers even fled? Had they stayed behind, willing to defend their city from the undead horde until the very end? As she walked past Kevin's desk, two clips for his customized .45 sitting abandoned by the keyboard, she had a feeling that Kevin had stayed to defend his home. Of course, it was likely that quite a few officers had already died sadly.

Chris and Jill walked in front of Leon and Ada, who were both still holding onto Sherry's hands, and opened the door that led into the front hall. Brad, ever the coward, touched Ada's shoulder and recoiled from her like she was about to turn and kill him. But instead she just cast a glance over her shoulder, telling him to speak his piece.

"We should all be really careful," he whispered, his voice hardly audible. "Wesker might still be out there and if he is, he'll try and kill us all before we can reach the roof. I don't think he wants anybody to escape from this…this…whatever is going on here."

"Did you find that out all on your own?" a cold voice snarled as the S.T.A.R.S., Leon, Ada, and Sherry walked into the front hall. Ada regretted not taking the other way to the roof, through the garden and up through one of the back hallways. In fact, she wondered why they hadn't taken that way.

The Eurasian woman noticed that Leon had gently pushed Sherry back into the arms of one of the S.T.A.R.S. officers, giving Ada her right hand back as the child released it. The duo stepped closer together, blocking Sherry off from view. Ada guessed Leon didn't want to take the chance of Wesker noticing the girl.

"We should've gone the back way," Chris hissed bitterly as he stared at Wesker. The blond officer looked off, something akin to insanity lacing the way he walked. He was pacing in front of the goddess statue, his handgun clutched tightly in his left hand. Ada immediately noticed that his sunglasses were off and she noticed them laying, crushed, about a foot away from the right ramp's rail.

"Why didn't we again?" Rebecca whispered, her hands nervously clutching her dress and flexing with each step Wesker took. The S.T.A.R.S. were obviously uncomfortable. They'd been trained to handle people with insanity but could they honestly turn against their own leader?

The captain finally stopped, his pale eyes moving over each and every officer that stood on the upraised platform that led to the outside of the RPD. The black haired woman noticed his eyes lingered on her, and she pressed herself closer to Leon, and then on the young blond officer himself. But Leon just stared right back.

"You didn't honestly think I'd believe that you hated Ada? I can see you follow her every whim like puppets on strings. You're nothing more than puppets, hollow fools who can't think for themselves," Wesker stated icily, walking closer to them. Ada glared at the blond man, her eyes hard and her jaw set. She would kill him if she had to. She didn't want to, not in front of Sherry, but she would if he made her. "Are you really going to shoot me? You didn't even get your paycheck."

"It's not going to work," Leon snarled. Wesker shot the young man a confused look, though his eyes were still eerily insane, and Leon coldly explained himself. "Turning her against us, I mean. We're obviously all on her side, not on yours. So, trying to turn us against her is pointless." The captain's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Courageous, Kennedy," Wesker snarled and before anybody could react, he aimed his gun at Ada's heart and pulled the trigger.

---

Leon had never prided himself on speed or even a quick reaction time. He wasn't bulky but his frame didn't mean he was capable of quickly moving. In fact, he was considered kind of slow by most other officers. In fact, Ark and Elza called him the slowest of their group.

But the second Wesker aimed his gun at Ada, which Leon somehow knew he was going to do, the young officer reacted quickly. He slammed into the Eurasian woman, the very person he'd been dancing with only hours earlier and who'd told him she was not a cop but an assassin. He moved in front of her and practically shielded her with his body. He felt something hit his chest, right near the sternum.

He'd never been shot before. But he'd heard that being shot felt like being punched, just ten times worse. And they were right. But immediately after the bullet had entered, he felt cold spread as nerves were killed and torn to pieces. His hearing, like everybody else's hearing, was gone thanks to the gunshot that echoed furiously in the expansive front hall.

Collapsing to his knees, he noticed that Wesker looked somewhat triumphant. Leon guessed it was because even though he hadn't killed Ada, he had killed the one who'd turned her against him. But then the officer's body, mainly his back, hit the unforgiving ground and Ada's hands were immediately on his chest, putting pressure there. The S.T.A.R.S. officers crowded in, shielding Ada and Leon with their bodies, and as his hearing returned he heard Rebecca start babbling a bunch of medical terms that Leon didn't recognized.

"Leon…" Ada mumbled. The officer, struggling to remain conscious and noticing that it was oddly difficult to breathe, looked at her. She was crying. Her pale eyes were bloodshot and tears trickled slowly down her face. He reached up and brushed one away with the back of his hand. She reached up with her right hand and gently held his to her face. Two small hands joined with Ada's remaining one, putting pressure on the wound.

Then the ebony haired woman's eyes darkened, hatred lacing the green that formed her irises, and she looked up. Leon couldn't tell but Wesker was probably barely visible past the crowded S.T.A.R.S. Ada looked down at him again, her eyes soft as they met his.

"I'll be right back, okay rookie?" He smiled at the nickname, ignoring the cold that seemed to be spreading through his body, and nodded. She stood, her dress swirling around her legs, and walked around him. Her dress brushed his legs as she walked past and he had a funny feeling she had the Desert Eagle in her hand, not as a weapon, but as a part of herself, the past that killed without hesitation.

"Hold on, Leon," Rebecca said gently next to him. "Richard, come here. Put pressure, right here. We have to slow the bleeding or he'll bleed to death." The medic reached down and ripped a chunk of her dress off before quickly folding it into a compress. Leon felt an odd coppery taste rush up his throat. Internal bleeding, he guessed. Then he heard a soft sniffling.

Sherry was crying, sitting on her knees next to him. Her wide eyes were filled with tears and he wanted to know why none of the other officers were making her move away. She didn't need to see him laying here, dying. Not after all she'd seen that night. But he guessed the others were too busy watching him die or watching Ada confront Wesker.

"You can't kill me, Ada," Wesker coldly stated. Leon had a mental image of him and Ada facing each other in an old western style showdown, complete with music and tumble weeds. But they weren't using six shooters. No, Wesker was using the Samurai Edge handgun that was issued to all S.T.A.R.S. And Ada was using the .50 caliber handgun no officer was given. "You know that money will always be the most important thing for you. It's the only thing that ever gave you a reason to live."

"Sorry Wesker. But I've found a new thing," the calm woman replied, her voice steady and lacking emotions. Then a thunderous crack, the very noise Leon realized he could associate with the second death of Tony, filled the air and a loud thumping noise followed suit. "And apparently you forgot that I'm the better, and faster, shot."

A few seconds later, though Leon guessed it could've been longer, Ada was back at his side. She didn't seem at all fazed that she'd just shot her boss. Of course, Leon doubted any of them honestly cared. They all just wanted to escape from the hell that was Raccoon City. Wesker could be mourned over and hated later on, when they were all safe.

She gently pulled Sherry, who was still sitting, up next to her. "We have to get him to the helicopter," she said, her voice oddly distant like she was standing near the dead captain and not right next to the dying officer. Leon was struggling to keep himself awake, trying to convince himself to stay alive.

"We'll have to carry him out," Chris said, sounding like he was close but not that close. "Barry, Joseph, come on." Ada knelt down really quick, touching Leon's shoulder. He noticed that, although he felt extremely cold, he must've been feverish because Ada's hand felt cold and nice even though the thick jacket he was wearing.

"Stay alive," she said softly, tears falling from her eyes again. He tried to promise her he would but his vision was starting to fade as he started to fall into the oblivion that was unconsciousness. Jill touched Ada's shoulder and her sorrowful face was the last thing Leon saw before everything faded away.


	15. The End

Duet of the Apocalypse

A/N: Last chapter. Thank you, everybody, for all the great reviews! And I truly hope that the ending isn't as bad as I think it is (I really can't stand writing the end of stories)… Enjoy the end of the story!

"The Raccoon City tragedy has already marked its place in history and will possibly be viewed as America's worst tragedy. I am issuing an investigation into what caused the tragedy and I promise you all that whoever caused this terrible incident will be brought to justice. Whoever it was will learn that-"

"Will you turn that off, Ada, please?" a gentle voice asked, making the black haired woman lift her head. She'd had her cheek pressed to the palm of her hand so her arm held her head propped up, though her eyelids drooped tiredly. She was quite exhausted but she didn't really feel like sleeping.

"Sure," she said, reaching over and pushing the off button on the remote. The President of the United States disappeared and the screen on the small TV turned black. Sherry, her blonde hair falling messily into her face, smiled gratefully at the woman who'd become her replacement mother.

Although they couldn't be certain that Sherry's parents had died in Raccoon City, Ada doubted they'd made it through. There wasn't really anything waiting for them out of the city anyway. As scientists for Umbrella, William and Annette Birkin would've been doomed to a life of running from the government. Ada guessed that death by a nuclear bomb would've been a much nicer than a life of running and terror.

"You think he means it?" Sherry suddenly asked. Ada looked at the child, not for the first time amazed at the young girl's adult attitude. She and Sherry had held several conversations that Ada knew would confuse most adults but the blonde girl hadn't even faltered. She was incredibly intelligent and although it was obvious she was heartbroken over losing her parents, she was handling everything quite nicely. She had physiatrists baffled since she didn't even seem affected by Raccoon City. But that was because they didn't see her at night, when the nightmares came.

"The President?" Ada asked, looking at the black screen. She noticed the girl nod out of her peripheral and nodded. "I think he did. He's probably had his moments of crookedness but no doubt he loves his country and he wants to protect it. Most presidents are like that. They want power and money but they want their country and people to be safe as well."

"I heard one of the doctor's say he's going to be kicked out of office for issuing the destruction of Raccoon City," Sherry stated. "But I think it's more likely that he's going to resign…" Ada gave the girl a curious look, waiting for her explanation. "Well… It seems unlikely that he'd want to stay in office after all of this… Umbrella was supposed to be the government's best friend. And yet with the evidence you and the S.T.A.R.S. presented to them, everybody will know that Umbrella is evil. Right?"

"It'll take a while… It's likely that Umbrella will start losing stocks after all of this, thanks to what we've told them," Ada replied. "And, about the President, you're probably right. It's unlikely he'll stay in office for much longer. Let's just hope the vice president handles things with a strong hand as well."

"Why do I have to wake up to you two talking politics again?" a groggy voice asked. Sherry smiled widely and Ada felt a smile grow on her own lips as Leon lifted himself up slightly so he didn't have to look up at them. "Every time I wake up, you two have to be talking about the government or Umbrella. Can't you talk about…girl things?"

"You mean make-up and ponies and pink?" Ada asked. Leon grinned at her and Sherry giggled. "Sorry handsome. I might be able to talk about make-up and ponies but I can't stand the color pink." He laughed gently and shook his head. "Besides, you know you love waking up to hear about the President's latest feat."

"And what is it today? Yesterday it was a nuclear bomb dropped on Raccoon City, the day before that it was complete lockdown on the city with military surrounding the city, and the list goes on," the ex-officer said stiffly, running a hand through his hair. He'd been in the Stoneville hospital for a week, having been brought back from the brink of death after a helicopter ride out of the dying Raccoon City. The first time he'd regained consciousness, he'd mumbled that he'd been at Death's door and hadn't wanted to knock. That something - or somebody, he'd mentioned shyly - had held him back.

During his stay in the hospital, the S.T.A.R.S. alongside Ada had gone to the FBI to tell them about Wesker and Umbrella and things had started to get complicated. But, to her amazement, the S.T.A.R.S. hadn't told the FBI about her part of the whole thing. The complicated part remained though. The FBI didn't completely trust S.T.A.R.S., seeing as major figures like Chief Irons hadn't escaped the city and the cops that had - including Kevin, Elza, Ark, and Marvin - weren't willing to talk about what they'd gone through. And just the day before, a nuclear bomb had been dropped onto Raccoon City to wipe out all traces of the virus. Things were complicated, there was no doubt about it. But the Raccoon City survivors, as they'd taken to calling themselves, kept an optimistic view on things.

"He's talking about hunting down the people that caused all of this," Sherry explained somberly. Ada looked at the twelve year old who looked much older than she should've while Leon laughed bitterly. "What do you think will happen to Umbrella?"

"Eventually, they'll make mistakes that nobody can ignore. For now, everybody's going to have to play it safe, even the government. They'll have to take things slow so they don't scare the people. Think about it, you've got Umbrella products in your home and you go on to find out the company makes a virus that turns people into zombies. How would you feel?" Leon bitterly explained. "But Umbrella will be taken down."

"Maybe…maybe the government needs some more proof," Sherry offered. Ada and Leon looked at each other before looking back to her. "I mean…they couldn't get any samples of the T-Virus so they didn't really…get proof. What if they had actual proof of Umbrella's research? They'll get it eventually but…"

"Well, it would probably enable them to act against Umbrella a little faster. And the S.T.A.R.S. are going after Umbrella bases so they should get samples soon. By the end of the year at least," Ada said. But the look on Sherry's face said the girl had more to say so she remained silent after her comment.

"What if they got proof…this week?" the girl asked. Leon looked over at her, his hair falling messily into his face. She looked shyly between her two new family members, almost like she was afraid. But she still had that strong bravery in her steel blue eyes that separated her from most children.

"Do you have proof, Sherry?" Leon asked. Ada guessed it wasn't too farfetched, in some way. Sherry's father had been an extremely important researcher for the company. And if he somehow gave her proof, since he was turning against his own company towards the end, Ada guessed they could use it against Umbrella.

The blonde girl reached up and pulled on a chain that was attacked to a large, gold pendent that she'd worn ever since Leon and Ada had found her. She tugged it off and held it in her hands, which were outstretched so Leon and Ada could both see what she was holding. With careful fingers, she opened the pendent and revealed a family picture – her parents holding her while looking happy looked odd to Ada, considering Birkin had been reaching the end of his rope towards the end – and let them look at it. Before Ada could say anything though, the girl used her right thumb to flip the picture up and reveal a secret compartment.

And in the secret compartment was a vial with a purple gel-like liquid inside. Ada stared in shock at the vial, knowing for a fact that it was not the T-Virus but something else, and Leon moved again, lifting himself into a sitting position. Although he was in hospital clothes, Ada could see the bandages that were wrapped tightly around his chest near his collar bone and she was immediately filled with a sense of guilt, though she hid it. He'd been shot near the lung and had almost died, all because of her.

The black haired woman shook her head as Sherry started speaking. "This is the virus my dad was working on… They didn't realize I knew they put it in here but…not much goes by me. I spend too much time isolated to not notice everything. It's called the G-Virus. My dad said something about it being much more dangerous than the T-Virus." Ada saw the girl hesitate to continue. When she did, her eyes hardened and she looked older than ever before. "I think they put it in here for me to give it to the government. My parents weren't the greatest but they loved me and they trusted me and they knew me well enough to know I'd want to help stop Umbrella…"

"There's more than one virus?" a new voice asked. Sherry snapped the pendent closed and turned to face Chris as he and Jill entered the room. She nodded at the tall man and he shook his head. "That's just great." Jill elbowed him suddenly and he smirked, stating, "We've got the government's attention. Now we can give them that."

"How long have you been there?" Leon asked, glancing at Ada. She'd noticed them there but hadn't honestly cared enough to point them out to the other two people she was with. She smiled faintly at him and he rolled his eyes. She knew he was still adjusting to her being a spy/assassin with skills most people would never come close to having. Such as noticing things the average person wouldn't. "Never mind…"

"Sherry, why don't you go with Chris and Jill and get something to eat," Ada said, knowing the blonde hadn't eaten since the night before. She nodded and jumped out of the chair she'd spent most of her time in. Jill offered the young girl a hand and the three left the room. Ada turned to Leon. "You know we'll have to testify against Umbrella."

"Oh well," Leon said with a shrug. Then his eyes lifted and met hers and she saw emotions she didn't really recognize in those cerulean orbs of his. He seemed to want to say something but she guessed he couldn't find the proper words to do such. He dropped his eyes from hers.

"I never…thanked you," she said softly, knowing that things were about to get really awkward. "You…almost threw your life away for me… And you shouldn't have. Somebody like me… I don't deserve to live. Not after all I've done." He smiled at her faintly.

"You mean saving Sherry? Or telling me the truth? Or even going up against a super company to protect the U.S.? Yeah, those are evil things, aren't they?" She frowned at him and he shrugged. "Ada, haven't you even heard of leaving the past behind? You did, didn't you? You're not an assassin anymore. Spencer's afraid of coming after you. You're not a bad person. You deserve to be alive just as much as anybody."

With a gentle laugh, she stated, "That was cliché." He grinned again and she had a feeling that was the point. He'd wanted to be cliché, to make her feel better, and it had worked. For some reason, cliche statements always worked at making people feel better. And although she still felt guilt pressing at her, for everything that had happened to him, she felt better. She knew that her life would be marked with guilt and sorrow but as long as she had Leon - which wasn't unlikely seeing as Sherry was technically going to be adopted by the both of them - she didn't really mind. And she knew that life from here on out was going to be filled with difficulties most people would find impossible to face. But she would face it all, no matter how impossible it was.

"Yeah, I know… But I also wanted to say that… Well… I love you, Ada. I didn't want to say it in Raccoon because… I was pretty overwhelmed and I just didn't want to focus on emotions but….we're out now. Besides, we have a kid together. We kinda have to have emotions for each other. Let's make those positive emotions," he said.

She grinned and leaned closer to him, pressing her lips softly against his in a kiss that seemed completely natural to her. She didn't mind that all of this was clichéd. And she doubted he minded either.

A/N: One final note... I know the ending was cliched and a couple of you probably won't like it. But I was going to end it on a sad note and I changed my mind. Why? I can't stand sad endings for Leon/Ada. There's enough of those in real life. Also, yes, Wesker died fast. But he died fast against the Tyrant, didn't he? So, the question is, is Wesker truly dead? You can all decide that for yourself. Now, there will not be any sequels to this story. I don't have the time to do them. I'm sorry but I can't really see a good plotline for any sequels. Well, again, thank you all for the amazing reviews! And I hope the ending isn't too bad.


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